“Let us intensify our advocacy for children’s rights and welfare, while also strengthening the support systems needed for the recovery and rehabilitation of abused children and those who experienced trauma.”
This was the message of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Undersecretary Vilma Cabrera during the “Ako Para sa Bata” Manila Conference held at the SMX SM Mall of Asia last December 1-2 with the theme, “Stressed? Coping, Recovery and Healing.”
Undersecretary Cabrera reported on the accomplishments of the Inter-Agency Council Against Child Pornography (IACACP) in combating child online sexual abuse.
The Council, led by DSWD comprises NGAs, such as DOJ, DOH, NTC, DICT, PNP, CHR, OMB, DOLE and NGOs, Stairway Foundation and International Justice Mission (IJM).
Organized by the Child Protection Network, the Manila Conference was attended by more than 1,000 medical practitioners, psychiatrists, guidance counselors, social workers, teachers, law enforcers and child advocates.
The two-day event tackled various topics, such as dealing with children suffering from traumatic experiences as a result of abuse, the Filipino Family Under Stress which discussed the evolving nature of Filipino families, Interventions for Victims of Cybercrimes, Programs and Interventions for Substance Abuse, dealing with mental health problems of Filipino youth, like depression, bipolar disorder, among others.
Dr. Bernadette Madrid, Executive Director of Child Protection Network Foundation, presented the highlights of the National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children (NBS-VAC) conducted in 2015, which indicates the high prevalence of child abuse incidents in the country despite the efforts of government agencies and NGOs.
Other salient findings are most children do not report cases of physical and/or sexual abuse. Most of the cases reported to the Child Protection Units (CPUs) are referred by the PNP and DSWD.
Only 10.1% of children disclosed they were physically abused, 11.8% said they were emotionally abused, while 11.8% disclosed they were sexually abused.
A glaring finding, according to Dr. Madrid, is that out of the 78% respondents who said they would report cases of child abuse to authorities, less than one percent actually reported such incidents to the barangay, DSWD or PNP.
From 2005-2915, 13,245 children consulted at the CPUs. Of this number, 87% were girls who were sexually abused.
The leaders of the Child Protection Network vowed to join forces with the government to strengthen the advocacy against child abuse since the number of abused children continue to rise. Abused children suffer traumatic experiences which are forever embedded in their hearts and soul unless properly addressed, they emphasized. ###
