EDITORIAL - Blaming the victim

The municipal police station has issued a public apology. If only to determine the extent of sexist attitudes in the Philippine National Police, however, the investigation should continue on the message posted on social media by the chief of the municipal police station in Lucban, Quezon.

In the Facebook post that was taken down after it went viral over the weekend, the police station advised women not to wear short dresses to avoid being molested. The message was supposed to be an advisory against being raped: “Kayo naman mga gherlsz, ’wag kayo magsusuot ng pagkaikli-ikling damit at pag naman nabastos ay magsusumbong din sa amin. Isipin niyo rin!”

Maybe the police station will also advise people not to display food and anything of value that might be stolen by desperate people amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For a long time, blaming the victim for being raped deterred women from filing complaints against rapists. Pursuing charges continues to be challenging particularly in cases of date rape, where the rapist initially enjoys the victim’s trust. New laws protecting women are supposed to promote a change in male attitudes toward sexual assault. The case in Lucban shows that this is not the case.

It’s unfortunate that such gender insensitivity persists in a police station whose deputy commander is a woman, Lt. Delilah Tapulayan. With such messages, it’s also no longer surprising that there are complaints about police and barangay officials refusing to assist women who complain about domestic violence. Maybe the cops also think the battered women had it coming.

With the Lucban police publicly expressing contrition and authorities vowing a thorough probe, there is hope that while gender sensitivity is a work in progress, change might be possible in the PNP.