PCW Calls for an End of Violence Against Women (VAW) and its Colonial Roots
Towards a Bagong Pilipinas
Once upon a time, before the colonizers came, the Philippines was a gender equal and VAW-free country.
In her welcome speech during the national validation workshop for the National Action Plan to End Violence Against Women (NAP EVAW) 2025–2030, Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) Chairperson Ermelita V. Valdeavilla reminded the participants that “VAW was not invented by Filipino men.” It was introduced and used as an instrument of control by colonizers to accelerate their colonization agenda.
“Numerous literature on the pre-colonial era describe the status of women and men as nearly equal, with women being respected and revered for their roles in reproduction, healing, and spirituality. Called babaylans and catalonans, these roles were associated with mystical powers, a reason why women were held in esteem and were consulted in the resolution of family and tribal conflicts. Both women and men could get a divorce for failure to meet family obligations, childlessness, and infidelity. Children, regardless of sex, and properties were equally divided in a divorce. Women were responsible for fiscal matters and they also owned property,” Chairperson Valdeavilla spoke to an audience composed of representatives from national government agencies (NGAs) and their regional counterparts, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and partners from international organizations.
PCW Chairperson Valdeavilla also emphasized in her welcome speech that the strong status of women was considered by colonizers as a threat to their expansionist agenda. Thus, women were subjugated, denied education, confined to homes, and disciplined toward subservience, making it easy to sustain their control for 333 years. Citing gender studies scholar Carolyn Brewer, she said that the colonizers’ efforts to restructure gender relations to diminish the status of women in the Philippines from 1521 to 1685 faced significant resistance.
“These changes were violently imposed by the colonizers and strongly opposed by Filipino women, particularly women leaders. The colonizers made Filipinos believe that the empowered healers and priestesses were controlled by the devil and must be beaten to drive the demons out of their body. Most of the empowered women perished in this dark part of the Philippines’ colonial history, which also marked the beginning of the impunity to commit violence against women or gender-based violence (GBV).”
“Today, violence against women has reached a pandemic proportion,” Chairperson Valdeavilla continued. “It is everywhere. It does not choose space or time. Almost everyone, especially children, who has been exposed to domestic violence carries the GBV virus and is vulnerable to becoming the virus itself,” she stated, emphasizing the urgency of the advocacy and setting the tone for the two-day validation workshop.
Held on October 10–11, 2024 at the Hotel Lucky Chinatown in Manila, the national validation workshop was the fifth and final leg of the consultation workshops conducted by the PCW, through the Inter-Agency Council on Violence Against Women and Their Children (IACVAWC) Secretariat, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Pursuant to the Republic Act (RA) No. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004, the PCW shall serve as the Secretariat for the IACVAWC, which is chaired by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Other members of the Council include heads of the Commission on Human Rights, Civil Service Commission, Council for the Welfare of Children, Department of Education, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Health, Department of Justice, Department of Labor and Employment, National Bureau of Investigation, and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
VAW is a Public Crime in the Philippines
According to the Crime Information Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS) data provided by the PNP to PCW, there are 8,055 reported cases of Anti-VAWC Act (RA 9262) in 2023 alone, which reflects a 3.76% increase from 7,763 reported cases in 2022.
Violations of other VAW-related laws such as the Anti-Rape Law (RA 8353 as amended by RA 11648) and Safe Spaces Act (RA 11313) also increased significantly in the last year, while reported cases on both Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 (RA 7877) and Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022 (RA 9208 as amended by RA 11862) declined from 2022 to 2023.
The table below shows the annual CIRAS data on the aforementioned VAW-related laws. It is important to note that these staggering figures do not account for unreported cases of violence as well as those reported to the PNP prior to the development of CIRAS in 2016.
Based on the PNP CIRAS, the Anti-VAWC Act, signed into law on March 8, 2004, has the highest number of reported violations. In Section 3, paragraph (a) of the Act, VAWC is defined as “any act or a 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 or had a sexual or dating relationship, or with whom he has a common child, or against her child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.”
Supporting the CIRAS data, the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) every five years, shows that the majority of perpetrators of violence among ever married women are their current husbands/partners.
But while the number of ever married women who experienced violence from their current husbands/partners has been decreasing in every NDHS, the percentage of former husbands/partners who committed violence against their former wives/partners has increased, indicating that VAW victim-survivors are leaving their abusive marriages/relationships.
Chairperson Valdeavilla further addressed this type of violence within intimate partner relationships in her welcome speech. “That violence is an expression of love is the greatest deceit. Stop saying ‘I punched you because I love you.’ Choose to control our emotions and manage our demonstration of hate. Choose to learn non-violent ways of resolving conflicts with the people around us. Choose to be a source of enlightenment. Be the light in each other’s darkened pathways.”
The PCW Chairperson also expressed gratitude to the Filipino men present at the national validation workshop for awakening to and reclaiming the true Filipino masculine spirit. She emphasized that VAW in the Philippines began during the colonization and the only way to end GBV is for Filipino men to free themselves and each other from its hold, referring to them as part of the solution and not the problem.
“As we review our draft National Action Plan on Ending Violence against Women, let us focus our mind in answering one question: ‘What must be done to end gender-based violence?’ Gender-based violence will not end through response measures alone. Prevention is the key,” she added.
Chairperson Valdeavilla also took the opportunity to appeal to the audience to take a stand against GBV, reminding them that it is a public crime and that everyone has the power to stop it. She even encouraged the workshop participants to think of a communication strategy that promotes norm change, emphasizing that all forms of violence are rooted in harmful norms that shape peoples’ behavior.
“Ending violence against women requires prevention, and prevention requires changes in the way gender relations have been structured by our colonizers hundreds of years ago. This is the real change that we want: to expunge our nation from vestiges of harmful norms and to return to becoming a real Filipino nation, which is not rooted in the cult of oppression, inequality, and gender-based norms,” Chairperson Valdeavilla concluded.
PH to Launch its National Action Plan to End VAW
DSWD Assistant Secretary Atty. Elaine F. Fallarcuna echoed Chairperson Valdeavilla’s call to end VAW as she delivered her message of support during the national validation workshop. She also expressed her gratitude to PCW for leading the effort and to UNFPA for being a long-time partner of the Philippines in the advocacy to end VAW.
“The DSWD, as the Chairperson of the Inter-Agency Council on Violence Against Women and Their Children, would like to express our unwavering support for today’s validation workshop of the National Action Plan to End Violence Against Women. We gathered here today with a shared purpose: to take a stand against one of the most pervasive and harmful issues in our society, the violence against women and girls,” she stated.
Assistant Secretary Fallarcuna conveyed her optimism in seeing government agencies and the private sector working together to implement various programs and services for the vulnerable sectors of society, especially the victim-survivors of VAW.
“That’s why we are here today, to validate and refine the Plan that will guide us in the next five years. We know that ending VAW requires more than just words that we will be saying today until tomorrow. It requires collective responsibility from all of us, from government agencies and non-government organizations. It demands concrete actions, effective policies, and a whole-of-society approach in the implementation of programs and services for our women and girls,” she affirmed.
Speaking on behalf of the DSWD, she promised that as one of the implementing agencies for programs and services, the Department will ensure that they will align their programs and services to the National Action Plan, which she describes as “more than a document.”
“It is a beacon of hope for millions of women who suffer in silence. But the Plan alone is not enough, it is our collective action that will turn this vision into reality,” she reminded the workshop participants.
The two-day national validation workshop for the National Action Plan to End VAW was attended by representatives from OXFAM Philippines, Plan International, Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, MOVE Philippines, government agencies and women NGOs from Southern Luzon (Regions IV-A, IV-B, and V), as well as members of the IACVAWC.
Other NGAs in attendance were from the PSA, Commission on Higher Education, Department of National Defense, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, National Police Commission, Philippine Information Agency, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Public Attorney’s Office, Department of Agriculture, National Youth Commission, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Presidential Human Rights Committee, Commission on Population and Development, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Supreme Court, Department of Foreign Affairs, DSWD-National Capital Region, and Climate Change Commission.
The National Action Plan is set to be launched by the IACVAWC, in support of the PCW, during the kick-off ceremony of the 18-day Campaign to End VAW on November 25, 2024.
UNFPA Counts on PCW’s Leadership and Multi-stakeholder Collaboration
For her part, Country Representative for UNFPA Philippines Dr. Leila Joudane emphasized that the NAP EVAW is a critical roadmap that will guide collective efforts in preventing and responding to VAW. Through collaborative efforts, she expressed confidence that the Plan will be responsive to the diverse needs and realities of women and girls across the Philippines.
“We recognize that violence against women is a grave violation of human rights and a major obstacle to achieving gender equality and sustainable development. That is why UNFPA is proud to stand alongside the PCW and all of you in this endeavor, recognizing the importance of a multi-sectoral and collaborative approach in addressing the complex issue of violence against women,” Dr. Joudane stated.
She also thanked the team for ensuring that diverse voices and experiences have shaped the Plan and making it relevant to the unique needs and priorities of women across the Philippines, which had been instrumental in navigating the extensive four regional validation and consultation workshops in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and culminating in the national validation.
However, Dr. Joudane challenged the participants to continue their efforts beyond the validation workshop. “While this validation marks a significant achievement, it is only the first step in our collective journey. We must now translate this meticulously crafted Plan into concrete action, ensuring its effective implementation from the national to the local level.”
She further expressed confidence in PCW’s leadership and the collaboration among stakeholders and gender advocates to take NAP EVAW forward. She stressed the importance of ensuring that the IACVAWC members and all other stakeholders remain fully engaged and committed to its successful implementation.
“As we look forward to the finalization of the NAP EVAW, we are filled with anticipation for the transformative change it will bring. But more than that, we are excited to continue working together to create a society where every woman and girl can live a life free from violence, fear, and discrimination,” she declared.
Moreover, Dr. Joudane considered the validation as a testament to the unwavering commitment of the Philippine government, civil society organizations, and communities to address the pervasive issue of VAW.
She also said that it is a significant milestone in the collective journey of creating a Philippines where all women and girls are free from violence and where gender equality thrives—a lived reality that Filipinos enjoyed once upon a time, a fairy tale for all those who lived during the colonial period of the Philippines, and a happily ever after for the future generations of Filipinos.
1 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2008 (Manila: National Statistics Office, 2009), 206, Accessed October 16, 2024, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR224/FR224.pdf.
2 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2013 (Manila: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2014), 190, Accessed October 16, 2024, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr294/fr294.pdf.
3 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2017 (Quezon City: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2018), 229, Accessed October 16, 2024, https://www.aidsdatahub.org/sites/default/files/resource/philippines-2017-dhs-report-2018.pdf.
4 2022 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) Final Report, (Quezon City: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2023), 310, Accessed October 16, 2024, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR381/FR381.pdf.
5 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2008 (Manila: National Statistics Office, 2009), 210, Accessed October 16, 2024, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR224/FR224.pdf.
6 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2013 (Manila: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2014), 192, Accessed October 16, 2024, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr294/fr294.pdf.
7 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2017 (Quezon City: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2018), 232, Accessed October 16, 2024, https://www.aidsdatahub.org/sites/default/files/resource/philippines-2017-dhs-report-2018.pdf.
8 2022 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) Final Report, (Quezon City: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2023), 314, Accessed October 16, 2024, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR381/FR381.pdf.