BAGUIO CITY – The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) confirmed that violence against women and children (VAWC) cases in the city are on the rise that warrants the active involvement of concerned sectors in ongoing efforts to address the pressing concern.
Social Welfare and Development Officer Jackie Tupong said that for the first quarter of the current year, there are already some 62 VAWC cases that have been documented by the CSWDO, the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) and the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC).
Last year, the city government and partner agencies documented some 282 VAWC cases in the city that comprised physical, emotional, economic and psychological abuses against women and children.
She noted that last year’s VAWC cases was 17 percent more than the 244 cases that were documented in 2023.
On a monthly basis, the breakdown of the VAWC cases in the city last year were January – 3, February – 36, March – 17, April – 35, May – 27, June – 24, July – 16, August – 23, September – 29, October – 16, November – 27 and December – 30.
In 2021, there were only 98 cases that were documented in the city and drastically increased to 4061 cases in 2022 or a skyrocketing increase of 78.74 percent. In 2023, the cases dropped to 244 or a decrease of 47.07 percent compared to the previous year.
But in 2024, there was a 13.47 percent increase with the recorded 282 cases compared to the figures in 2023.
Tupong presented the said data during the Training of Service Providers on Counselling Services for Rehabilitation of Perpetrators of Domestic violence which was attended by the officers and committee chairpersons of the city government’s Men Opposed to Violence Against Women and Children Everywhere (MOVE) held recently. By Dexter A. See
