Vawc

We are all familiar with the story: a man batters his wife and leaves her profusely bleeding and almost to death, their children trembling with fear and sobbing uncontrollably; the man flees the scene of abuse and the neighbors takes pity on the battered woman and brings her to the closest hospital for treatment.  The bruises might heal in a week or two but the shock and the hidden psychological wounds inflicted by the dastardly act will remain for the rest of her life.  It is not only her who will bear the burden of pain both seen and unseen; the children who helplessly witnessed the unmitigated violence against a loved one will also forever be tarnished.  It will be an uphill battle but time might be able heal and hide and the scars of violence.

A sad, sad story that is often told and splashed in our TV screens now and again. We watch with incredulity that shortly turns into resignation and pity for there is nothing we can do to individuals who are not related to us. What happens then when you are confronted with a similar situation?  Where do we get help? How can you protect yourself? One wonders what the government is doing about the occurrence of such events.

There are no easy answers – we handle issues of life in different ways but awareness of violence and knowledge of available legal remedies might go a long way.

Mindful of the increasing incidence on violence on women and their children, Congress saw it fit to enact a law to protect women and their children from abuses and violence.  This is known as Republic Act 9262 entitled “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.” The Act defines "Violence against women and their children" as referring to “any act or a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or against a woman with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or with whom he has a common child, or against her child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.”  The violence referred to in the law includes acts are which physical, sexual, psychological and including economic abuse in nature.

This law empowers women and their children to seek refuge under the law for it will provide protection from the abusive person.  This is designed to prevent further occurrence of violence in order to allow the victim to eventually recover and if warranted, it provides for a physical separation in order that further violence could be prevented from occurring again.

Laudable for its intent and its formal recognition of the needs of victims and the necessity of giving the law a teeth to protect victims, still, the law might not be enough by itself to prevent the occurrence and perpetration of violence to hapless women and children.

What can be done then?  We need to educate ourselves and others, and in every instance of violence that we know, we have to make a stand and report such to the proper authorities.  We should not be complacent, passive and allow our sense of sensibility and morals be deadened by the barrage of violence.  We have to be prepared. We have to see but we also need to act. 
The long struggle towards the achievement of a peaceful and sane society starts with ourselves.  We thus need to look inwardly and expunge from our souls notions of revenge, of the want to inflict pain and damage to others and in so doing, we can reasonably expect in the future not to be a victim of violence – or one of its perpetrators.