Anti-VAW hotlines now working in ARMM

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - There are now functional hotlines victims of violence against women (VAW) in Moro areas can contact for complaints that need immediate action from authorities.

The vice governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Hadja Bainon Karon, told The Star Wednesday that the hotlines are now functioning, launched last week in Buluan town in Maguindanao.

Karon said there have been so many undocumented cases of violence against Muslim and Christian women in the province and in other areas of the autonomous region, condoned by lack of awareness on what victims can do and how they can seek redress.

Karon said Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu has ordered the provincial police director, Senior Supt. Jaime Pido, to help in the implementation of the hotline project and in the prosecution of violators of the Republic Act 9262, also known as the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Law.

Karon, who is the ARMM’s concurrent social welfare secretary, said complaints can be reported to authorities via mobile phone numbers 09094848613, 0935062517, or calls through land line 064-4219424.

“Complainants can get immediate actions when they call or send messages to these hotlines,” Karon said.

The launching of the hotline project was part of the ARMM government’s observance of the 18-day international campaign to VAW, which started Nov. 25.

“The VAW hotline project aims at encouraging women who are suffering from violence and abuses to report to authorities through these hotlines,” Karon said.

The representative of the region’s women sector to the 27-member Regional Assembly, Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, said the protection of the ARMM’s women from violence should be made “part and parcel” of the Mindanao peace process.

“There can never be a strong Moro community without Moro women being also in the forefront of nation building, protected from all forms of violence, enjoying government services and given key roles in governance and public administration,” Tomawis said.

The 18-day campaign to end VAW is meant to encourage public support to efforts of eliminating abuses through heightened awareness on gender-based violence.

Records obtained from the ARMM’s social welfare department and the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council show that about 60 percent of the evacuees that are driven from villages by oft-recurring armed conflicts and calamities are women and children.

Recent statistics released by the Women and Children Protection Center of the Philippine National Police indicated a total of 9,693 documented VAW cases from January to July this year alone.  

The ARMM’s VAW hotline project is being assisted by the Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women, the commission’s chairperson, Helen Roxas-Balawag said.

The hotline numbers have already been disseminated to all of the ARMM’s component areas - Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao; the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.

Dr. John Magno, chief-of-staff of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, said the regional police office has also been tasked to help in the operation of the region’s VAW hotline project and in carrying out immediate police actions against offenders. 

Magno said Hataman is also to include the VAW issue as one of the main concerns of the inter-agency regional peace and order council.

Magno said it is also important to prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of law to set an example on how the government is to penalize anyone found guilty of violating the county’s VAW law.