MANILA, Philippines — A peasant women group on Monday condemned a recent victim-blaming post on a national police Facebook page, saying this kind of behavior would be “emboldened” once the anti-terrorism bill is turned into law.
“We join the public in condemning the PNP for being insensitive in their indefensible victim-blaming blunder. It is clear to see that the training they received on Violence against Women and Children is fake and their actions show a lack of sincerity and respect towards women,” Amihan National Chairperson Zenaida Soriano said in a mix of Filipino and English.
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The Lucban Municipal Police Station last week drew widespread backlash for a post that said women should not wear revealing clothing and then report sexual harassment to them.
Police Gen. Archie Gamboa, Philippine National Police chief, has since ordered the Directorate for Police Community Relations under PMGen Dionardo Carlos to investigate the incident.
Who’s to blame?
— ONE News PH (@onenewsph) June 12, 2020
Netizens slam a Facebook post by Lucban Municipal Police Station which warned women against wearing skimpy clothes to avoid cases of sexual harassment. (via @News5AKSYON) pic.twitter.com/LhZKocM3Vs
Amihan, or the National Federation of Peasant Women and Rural Women Advocates, warned that the controversial anti-terrorism bill would serve to intensify abuses on women, as well as government critics.
Many fear that the anti-terrorism bill would unduly broaden the executive branch’s power.
Human Rights Watch in a statement earlier this month said that the bill “relaxes accountability for law enforcement agents who violate the rights of suspects, particularly those in detention” as it does away with the P500,000 penalty for every unlawful day of detention.
Amihan also emphasized abuses perpetrated by the PNP along with the military against women in the countryside which they said consist of rape, sexual harassment, threats and more.
Rappler recently reported that a police officer coerced a woman into having sex with him to be allowed to pass a quarantine checkpoint. The woman said that cops had long been threatening prostitutes and it only got worse during the lockdown.
In response, Gamboa said the national police “takes these allegations seriously because we respect women and honor their role in society.”
He then urged victims of sexual assault at the hands of the police “to immediately report to the PNP and to file charges against suspected wrongdoers.”
In 2018, a member of the Manila Police District was accused of raping the teen daughter of drug suspects in exchange for her parent’s liberty.
The incident prompted the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific to claim that “palit-puri” or the sex-for-freedom scheme has worsened under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
Permission from the president?
The chief executive has also been known to make victim-blaming remarks before.
When talking about rape cases in Davao City, of which he was previously mayor, he said: “as long as there are many beautiful women, there are plenty of rape cases as well.”
Data from the PNP showed that Davao City, Duterte’s hometown, had the highest number of rape cases in the second quarter of 2018 with 42.
He has also incited the military to commit sexual violence against women.
Amid the siege on Marawi City in 2017, the chief executive told soldiers that he would answer for the consequences of military rule in Mindanao, including cases of rape by soldiers.
In 2018, he ordered soldiers to shoot female New People’s Army rebels in the vagina.
In the same year, he also admitted to sexually assaulting a maid.
The Center for Women’s Resources said it has recorded 33 cases of violence against women committed by police officers since July 2016.