RAPE CASES DROP
Despite being reported to have the highest reported rape cases in the country from April to June 2018, rape cases in Davao City in first half of the year have actually dropped.
Although Davao City landed in the top spot for most cases of rape nationwide in the second quarter of 2018, the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) recorded a 20 percent drop in rape incidents across the city for the first half of 2018.
DCPO director Police Superintendent Alexander Tagum told Sun.Star Davao yesterday that based on their data, there were only 95 reported cases of rape incidents during the first half of this year as compared to 120 in the same period of 2017.
Of the 120, there were 65 rape incidents in the first quarter and 55 in the second quarter. In the same period of 2018, of the 95
rape cases, there were only 36 in the first quarter and 59 in the second quarter.
Tagum said that the police only enter in the picture after the (rape) incident but the bigger contributory factors of rape incidents, according to study, are family values, economic situation and social condition.
He also cited that the rise in rape cases in the city is not attributed to the poor intervention but lack of education, more on family values and gender sensitivity.
Most of the victims were also a product of dysfunctional family or raised by a single parent who has no father figure to lecture them or guard them against rape threats.
He likewise said that majority of the rape cases happened within the supposedly safe dwelling of the victim and mostly perpetrated by relatives or people close to the victims whom they thought they could trust.
From January to June 2018, there were 95 offenders that were recorded and their relationship to their victims were father (7), stepfather (7), grandfather (4), uncle (10), boyfriend (4), cousin (6), friend (6), brother (2), no relation (33), stranger (2), co-worker (1) and neighbor/acquaintance (13).
“We can see the common denominator, there exist trust and familiarity. Why? All the places where it happened were whether at the house of the victim, house of a friend or relatives of neighbor,” he said.
They also observed that most of victims were minor ages 12 to 17 years old. For the first quarter of 2017, there were 41 minor victims recorded but it dropped to 19 for 2018. They also have recorded 25 minor victims in the second quarter of 2017 and 24 in 2018.
“I think their vulnerability is one of the factors why minors have higher chances of being raped. Most of the suspects took advantage of their innocence and according to most minor victims, they were also threatened not to divulge any information because they will be killed by the suspects if they do so,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tagum said they intensified their efforts through their Kinder cops program which was launched last year. The program seeks to push for advocacies at schools in terms of the awareness of the young students on good touch and bad touch. The target audiences are kinder to high school students.
“We strengthened the information dissemination through all forms of media and the laws concerning the protection of women and children and its corresponding implications/penalties to any person who violates the same. These also include the giving of information, education and communication materials for crime prevention and safety tips and the conduct of dialogue to the communities,” Tagum said.
He added that they have been enhancing and beefing up their Oplan Sagop Kabataan for possible rescue of minors seen at the public place at 10 p.m. onward and to conduct inspection on all internet shops to eliminate presence of minors.
Tagum, meanwhile, disclosed that he plans to conduct a consultative meeting or strategic planning with all the stakeholders/ working committee concerned in protection, safety and social services to address the increasing demands of this menace to come up with a more holistic and pragmatic approach and intervention.