DAR Aklan Women Frontliners Retool To Protect and Empower Women

"As DAR Aklan answers the call of victims or would be victims of violence, one should be armed with the necessary knowledge and skills in dealing with the victims or would be victims in order to attain justice from their predicament", advises Police Major Ma. Cecile Detablan during the two-day lecture to DAR women’s desk officers and employees.

Major Detablan, Chief of the PNP regional women and children desk at Camp Delgado, Iloilo City, emphasized the need for the DAR Aklan women’s desk officers to be tooled on the most basic knowledge and skills in addressing victims of violence and similar incidence as they perform their respective duties as government employees. Major Detablan stressed that the issue of violence against women and children (VAWC) especially gender-based is a social one and should be addressed holistically and not as a personal matter or between relationships but rather a social concern affecting the person. As such, laws are already enacted to resolve VAWC.

The Department of Agrarian Reform is in the forefront of rural develop-ment and social justice among the peasantry through land tenure improvement, support services, agrarian justice delivery but also in main-streaming the Gender and Development (GAD) program of the government. GAD in DAR is not only database gender desegre-gation but more importantly, securing concerns of women in the field through the installation of structures that would readily answer women Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) concerns.

Other topics discussed during the Skills Training for DAR Women’s Desk Officers, DARLA-SAKA and ARB Women Leaders were GAD orientation, RA 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women & Children, RA 7610 or Child Abuse Law, RA 8353 or Anti Rape Law, RA 8505 or Rape Assistance Law, RA 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, RA 7877 or the Sexual Harassment Act and RA 9208 or the Trafficking in Persons Act.

Atty. Daniel Y. Martelino, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer II of DAR Aklan, highly commended the PNP regional women and children’s desk in sharing its experiences, knowledge and skills to enhance DAR Aklan women desk officers to be more attuned to the needs of women and children thereby eliminating or limiting acts of VAWC in the countryside. He reiterated the need for more funding and sustained training as VAWC issues recur and needs systematic approach towards its elimination. The training was conducted on May 28-29, 2009 at Hernani’s Mix and Match, Kalibo, Aklan. It was funded under GAD budget of the Department. /MP