THE city government has enhanced its cooperation with hospitals as part of monitoring victims of gender-based violence.
This developed as it has also boosted initiatives its campaign against online sexual exploitatioin as the cybrime unit of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) has started tracking down those buyers and sellers of sexual exploitation materials through wire transfers and overseas remittances.
Lorna Mandin, Integrated Gender and Development Division (IGDD), said the city government is expanding its agreement with city hospitals on the reporting of victims of gender-based violence similar to what it forged with the Southern Philippine Medical Center which has established women and children’s desks with a direct line to the DCPO and IGDD.
Mandin added that the city government will continue holding lectures for men in barangays on gender-sensitivity as its response to the call of some barangays for the holding of these activities.
It has also enhanced its response to rape and other sexual abuse cases by hiring two more lawyers to handle these cases.
The DCPO and the IGDD have also resumed educational campaign in combatting these cases after 100 rape cases were reported during the first eight months of the year with 68 of them the victims were those 17 years old or below.
PMaj. Maria Teresita Gaspan, head of the Women and Children Protection Desk and DCPO spokesperson, said that among the initiatives was requiring all police stations to hold “men oppose violence against women” lectures.
Another form of lecture, which is in line with the resumption of in-person classes, is the “safe and unsafe touch” lectures and other gender sensitivity seminars among preschool for high school students.
Mandin said because of the importance of teaching gender sensitivity to children, the city government and Department of Education have signed a Memorandum of Agreement to integrate educational materials on gender-related crimes such as sexual abuse and exploitation into the curriculum.
Under the agreement, which is the first of its kind, children will be taught how to discern gender-based crimes and how to deal with them.
“Kana atong gina-monitor, kung effective or kailangan ba i-modify. (This is what we are monitoring, if it is effective enough or if it needs further modification),” said Mandin.
