Written by: Anne Janine Paron
“8 in 10 Filipino children suffer from a form of violence, according to a new study of the Council for the Welfare of Children and the United Nations Children's Fund.”
Child abuse is any act which inflicts physical or psychological injury, cruelty to or the neglect, sexual abuse of, or which exploits, a child. (DOJ, 2008)
Under R.A. No. 7610: Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, “Children” refers to person below eighteen (18) years of age or those over but are unable to fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition.
According to the 2016 study of Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), children experience abuse in their own homes--where they should be safe and taken care of. The study consisted of 3, 866 respondents, aged 13-24, from 17 regions of the Philippines.
National Baseline Study on Violence against Children reported that physical violence and psychological violence are the most common forms of child abuse. Physical violence garnered 66.3%, while psychological violence was at 62.8%.
"Eighty percent of the 3,866 respondents aged 13 to 24 years had experienced some form of violence in their lifetime, whether in the home, school, workplace, community or during dating," the study said.
In terms of physical abuse, half of it is what we usually say as say as punishment like spanking, pulling the hair or ear-twisting. There are also severe cases such as slapping, kicking, attempting to drown, or burning.
Meanwhile, in psychological abuse, 13.7% of the respondents aged 13 to 18 years old were sexually abused at home, while growing up. The most rampant form is unwanted touching. Other forms are recording of sex videos/taking of photos without consent, forced attempted sex, and forced consummated sex.
The study showed that boys tend to experience these abuse, and that brothers and cousins were the commonly cited abusers.
Received sexual messages through the Internet or mobile phones made up the quarter of the incidents of cyber violence, while 2.5% find their own sexual activities or naked bodies posted online.
Woefully, the study also stated that less than 1% of the victims confide to the authorities to report the said cases, they usually go to their friends or mothers instead.
Only 10.1% of the victims of physical violence talk about their situation, on the other hand, 13% of sexual abuse victims are open on what they went through. We can not fault them for not speaking up earlier because of the trauma that definitely lingered after experiencing such atrocities. Reporting these cases was highly urged by Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, CWC chair, however the study also found out that due to lack of human and financial resources-- local government units (LGUs) have low capacity to respond to cases of violence against children.
What use of these research and data analysis if we can not pour effort in taking into action to save our children and give them hope and protection? In a continuous fight against child abuse, it is our responsibility to see to it that our children are well taken care of and free of violence.
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