Wife beaters, beware

For too long, women have been battered by their husbands or lovers — but they could not do anything about it except to cry and be silent about it. Those who finally summon the courage to report their having been beaten up were told that the police would not interfere in domestic squabbles.

The creation of women’s desks in police precincts helped the situation somewhat. But when cases were brought to the courts, the offenses fell under inflicting injury on another person, and were punishable by six years in jail.

But the days of wife beaters going scot-free have now come to an end.

Two days ago, on International Women’s Day, or March 8, President Macapagal-Arroyo signed the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act (RA 9262). The law penalizes men who abuse their female partners or their children with up to 16 years in jail. The abusers will also have to pay a fine of P100,000 to P300,000 and undergo psychological counseling or psychiatric treatment. They also have to pay the victims compensatory moral and exemplary damages.

Witnessing the signing of the bill were the principal authors, Senate President Franklin Drilon and Sen. Luisa Ejercito Estrada, and Speaker Joe de Venecia. Just as happy is Aurora Javate de Dios, chair of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, who has dedicated herself to getting a law passed that would protect victims of domestic violence.

It has taken nearly a decade for the bill to be signed, said representatives of Kalakasan (Strength) Foundation, an NGO that has been working against domestic violence through legislative work. Kalakasan said a 2003 survey showed that nine per cent of all Filipino women have been harmed by their partners.

We know that violence against women cuts across social, economic and religious borders. Women living in Forbes Park and Tondo, academicians, wives of church ministers and government officials suffer from the hands of cruel husbands, live-in partners, or boyfriends living out of the abode.

The bill defines domestic violence as any act or series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or against a woman with whom the person has had a sexual or dating relationship or with whom he has a common child. It is also committed against the woman’s child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering. It includes such acts as battering, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

Kalakasan said the bill protects women, not men, because there are no statistics on men being abused by their domestic partners.

The men better watch out when they start inflicting harm on women with whom they have or had relationships. Empowered women can literally drag them to court.

Just as men are problematic to women, so is a non-human source of discomfort – menopause (note that the first three letters of those words are the same). Menopause means the complete cessation of menstruation (note the first three letters!) – which happens to every woman generally above 40 years old. It lasts for a few weeks, but the attending physical and emotional discomfort can be catastrophic. There is the drying of the skin and vagina (which makes having sex a painful ordeal), hot flashes (feverish temperature and profuse perspiration which strike anytime anywhere), loss of memory, weakening of the knees, an insatiable appetite, and, worse of all – the depressing feeling of being undesirable and unwanted.

Happily, there’s a musical showing at the Music Museum that makes fun and light of menopause as a transitionary stage that needs the understanding of husbands and families of women gone menopausal. "Menopaues, the Musical," features the hilarious foursome – Nanette Inventor, Mitch Valdes, Sheila Francisco and Leach Navarro who bump into each other at a lingerie sale in Bloomingdale’s, a department store in New York City.

Music Museum’s Precy Florentino broached the idea of staging a musical with talented artists to Margie Floirendo of Bahaghari Productions. Margie said yes, and presto, the staging of the musical first week of March. Next showings will be on March 13, 14, 20, 21, 27 and 28, at 8 p.m., and 4 o’clock matinees on March 28 and April 4.

The story, inspired by writer-lyricist Jeannie Linders, revolves around the four women who are in different stages of menopause. Their dilemmas, aches and pains are made hilarious by their singing of Broadway hits whose words are rewritten to fit their condition, such as "The Great Pretender," "Only You," and "Staying Alive."

Involved in "Menopause, the Musical" are Leo Rialp, stage director; Vincent de Jesus, musical director; Kitchie Molina, vocal arrangement; Chari Villa, lighting director; Joe Tecson, set construction, and Liesl Laforteza, choreography.

Remember the TV commercial that reduced a young woman into a buy-me-this-buy-me-that ("bilmoko") character, that was pulled out upon the complaint of women’s groups? Well, the radio commercials and product billboards of a brandy maker have been pulled out by the Advertising Board of the Philippines (AdBoard) on the ground that they were offensive to women, especially minors.

The ads show a bottle of Napoleon Brandy, with the words, "Nakatikim Ka Na Ba Ng Kinse Anos?" The women’s group Gabriela objected to the "kinse anos" billboards and commercials.

The brandy maker, Distileria Limtuaco, has decided to file a civil suit before the Makati City Regional Trial Court against AdBoard and its executive director, Oscar Valenzuela, for usurping the functions of the Department of Trade and Industry, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board and the National Telecommunications Commission. It aims to collect P5- million in damages. Its lawyer, Bonifacio Alentajan, referred to sectoral representative and Gabriela president Liza Maza as having poor eyesight. Alentajan has been quoted as saying that the "material speaks for itself. There is no reference to the exploitation of a 15-year-old. It seems that Lisa has poor eyesight. She could have mistaken the bottle (in the posters and billboard) as a person."

As for me, asking if one has tasted a 15-year-old is asking if one has had sex with a 15-year-old. It’s as simple as that.

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