SC backs One Billion Rising campaign

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to end all forms of violence against women, in support for the 2023 One Billion Rising Global Campaign: Rise for Freedom.

While the judiciary has taken important steps toward ending gender-based violence and inequality, SC officials said more should be done to end violence against women.

Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez, co-chairman of the SC Committee on Gender Responsiveness in the Judiciary, lamented how “violence against women, whether physical, emotional, economical or sexual, remains a massive and pervasive social issue.”

“We in the judiciary should not just sit and wait for these cases of violence to reach our court rooms. We ought to give this issue our focal attention as incidents of gender-based violence continue to rise,” Lopez said.

His co-chairperson Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh said 105,837 cases of violence against women were reported to the Philippine National Police from 2017 to 2021.

According to the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey, only one of three victims of violence against women sought help from authorities.

“Most women still choose to suffer in silence,” Singh said.