Violence against women in the Philippines

Violence Against Women in the Philippines is a serious problem.

Statistics On Violence Against Filipina Women
There are different trends in the number of violence against women cases from different government agencies. The number of VAW cases reported to the police increased seven-fold, from 1,100 in 1996 to 7,383 in 2004. In 2006 a total of 5,758 VAW cases were reported to the police. In 2008 the number of VAW cases reported to the police rose by 21 percent from the 2007 report. One of the worst forms of violence against women in the region is human trafficking.

Government Support
Since 1991, the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development has been assisting women through centres which provide substitute home care. The centres assist adult women victims of forced prostitution, illegal recruitment, battering, rape, incest and armed conflict. Since 1995, the Department of Health and the Women's Crisis Centre have been jointly piloting a government hospital-based crisis and healing centre for victims of violence against women.

Non-Governmental Agencies
The Bathaluman Crisis Centre Foundation Inc is a non-profit organization established in 1991 to help female survivors of violence. The Foundation provides a support systems, including a service and referral centre, to help survivors deal with their physical trauma. The Women's Crisis Centre (WCC), established in 1989 provides a supportive and affirming environment in which women who have survived violence can interact with other survivors through group counselling, education programs, recreation activities or skills training.

United Nations Population Fund Philippines
The UNFPA Joint Programme on Violence Against Women is a project to enhance support to the Philippine government to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, especially as it relates to domestic violence, rape, trafficking and sexual harassment. The government partners are the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Justice (DOJ), and Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Violence Against Women in Poor Communities
A common response to violence against women is to establish a crisis centre. However, these centres are very rarely used by the urban poor, partly because they are rarely located in these communities, and partly because they tend to focus (for resource reasons) on the most serious cases. Thus, they don't address the more typical chronic forms of spousal abuse found in poor urban communities.

Legislation
The Philippines has enacted several laws protecting women from violence – Anti-Sexual Harassment, Anti-Rape and Rape Victim Assistance and Protection, Anti-Trafficking in Persons, Anti-Violence against Women and Children with Women’s and Children’s Desks and Services.

The Republic Act 9262 - The Anti-Violence Against Women Act was passed in 2004. In 2007, Senator Pia S. Cayetano filed Senate Bill No. 1407 in the Philippine Senate seeking to declare November 25 of every year as the “National Consciousness Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women” in the Philippines.