By ARDY ARANETA-BATOY
A police official from the Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) here said that some cases of abuse against women and children did not go forward because some complainants decided not to pursue the charges.
This was disclosed by Police Captain Mildred Taga-amo of the WCPS during an episode of DYTR’s Open Forum on February 1, 2024, hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy.
Chief Master Sgt. Beatriz Pogoy, also of WCPS, joined the episode of Open Forum as well.
Taga-amo said some complainants filed cases under the anti-Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) act but later withdrew them.
She noted that the cycle of violence and abuse would continue if there were complainants who did not follow through with the cases they filed.
“Some spouses file complaints and then withdraw them. So the violence and cycle will not stop because they do not end it, they do not continue with the case,” she told the program host referring to some complainants who changed their minds.
The complainants withdrew the case for economic reasons.
Often, the abuser is the husband, who is the breadwinner of the family. Some women depend on their abusive husbands and would lose their source of income.
Therefore, the abused women choose to withdraw rather than lose the family’s provider, Taga-amo said.
“The reason also is, there is no one to support them. What will happen to their children especially if the husband is the breadwinner,” she said.
Abuse of women and children would only stop if some of the complainants would seek justice and push the case, she explained.
Most of the time, abused women who pursued the case are those who have their own livelihood and are not reliant on their husbands for support.
Taga-amo said there are many women who can earn their own income who end up pushing abuse cases against their partners.
Pogoy said that when she investigates abuse cases, she often feels sorry for the victims.
Pogoy added that she has been doing her best to help abused women end the violence.
There are cases where the children were made to testify as witnesses in abuse cases.
Taga-amo also shared a case of incest, saying that this kind of abuse happens.
The case occurred in Dimiao, where the father had sexual relations with his 16-year-old daughter. The child’s mother was a overseas Filipino worker, Taga-amo said.
The crime was discovered when the mother came back from abroad and the child was pregnant with her father’s child.
It was the mother who filed the complaint as the child kept quiet out of fear of her father.
The father threatened the daughter that if the crime was exposed, the formen would kill her and her siblings, including the mother, Taga-amo said.
“The child did not say anything,” she said as the child only revealed the truth when she was taken to the police station.
She confirmed that in some cases, the daughter would fall in love with her father.
There are mothers or grandmothers who would conceal or protect the child in case of developing romantic feelings for the father.
Lack of guidance is often the cause of incest cases, Taga-amo said.
The easy access to pornography and lust also contributes to incest cases, she added.
It is also possible that fathers may be tempted to commit incest because of the lack of privacy in small homes especially in squatter’s areas and in rural areas.
MARITAL RAPE
While marital rape is against the law, the police here have not received any reports.
Taga-amo said marital rape may be occurring, but the cases are unknown as no one is courageous enough to report them.