Broken Homes

It was the middle of the night when Rowena (not her real name) woke to the sounds of her husband in his drunken stupor returning home and struggling with the door. Her heart was pounding: She knew all too well what would happen next.

And so it did: Before she had a chance to jump off the bed to defend herself, he was already punching her full in the face.

By the time he finished beating her, Rowena’s face and body was a mass of cuts and bruises which took more than a week to heal. Physically, if not emotionally, recovered, Rowena finally decided that enough was enough. "I couldn’t bear it any longer. I was tired," she said.

Then aged 22, a college dropout and jobless, Rowena packed her things up, gathered her three children and left.

"It was the best decision I’ve ever made," she said.

But were it not for her parents providing support and a place to go, Rowena admits she would not have been able to muster enough courage to leave. Few battered wives have the luxury of returning to their childhood homes.

According to the Gabriela Women’s Party, a Congressional group committed to promoting the rights and interests of marginalized and disadvantaged women, a Filipina is a victim of domestic abuse every two hours.

"The problem of domestic violence is extremely common," says spokeswoman Gert Libang. "But the question that always pops into the heads of victims is: ‘How will I feed my children if I leave?’"

She adds that nearly all of the 400 women who sought help from Gabriela Women’s Party last year were jobless mothers with no means to make a successful getaway from abusive partners.

In a report entitled "Gender Issues – Philippines," the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation claims a "sharp contradiction" in gender equality.

It says that while significant inroads have been achieved in recent years, including the election of two women as president, and the existence of many high-standing political, business and academic Filipinas, many women continue to suffer domestic abuse.

The presence of a relatively strong women’s liberation movement has not reduced a deeply engrained patriarchal culture in Filipino families, mostly Catholic and Islamic, which views the father as the head of the family.

However, women’s organizations have successfully managed to bring the issue of domestic violence to Congress, which passed the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act in 2004.

Under this law, violence means not only physical abuse such as beatings and sexual attacks, but also that which is economic or psychological in nature.

The law defines economic abuse as the withdrawal of financial support or preventing the victim from engaging in any legitimate occupation, except in cases wherein the other spouse or partner objects on valid, serious and moral grounds.

Psychological abuse is when a woman or child is put to shame in public and subjected to verbal abuse, among other things. Treating the woman as a sexual object ranks as "sexual abuse."

If serious violence is committed against a pregnant women or in the presence of a woman’s children, courts are instructed to apply the maximum penalty allowable which includes life imprisonment.

The Philippine National Police says the law effectively encourages victims to come forward and report abuse to the authorities. In less than 10 years, police have noted a big leap in the number of cases reported to them: From 1,100 in 1996 to over 6,500 by 2005. The PNP says that while husbands are the primary perpetrators, some are boyfriends or unmarried partners.

It believes there are many more victims who do not report attacks to the authorities because of reasons similar to those cited by the Gabriela Women’s Party.

"There is an element of forgiveness for the sake of family togetherness," says Chief Supt. Yolanda Tanigue, chief of the PNP Women and Children’s Division.

The Gabriela Women’s Party adds that a further problem is the belief that violence in the confines of intimate relationships is trivial.

It recounts cases when a victim rushes to the village chieftain to seek help, only to be told to go back home and discuss it with the spouse because it is seen as simply a couple’s quarrel, better known in Filipino as away mag-asawa.

"For the barangay the quarrel only becomes a case when someone is already dead," says spokeswoman Libang.

Libang adds: "Unfortunately, having laws to protect women does not mean the mindset of people has changed."

Domestic violence is not only seen in poor families. There are also victims from gated and exclusive subdivisions. Some are professionals and a few occupy managerial positions.

Children aren’t spared. Along with the physical and emotional battering many women receive are the emotional scars left on children caught in the middle.

There are at least three million children in The Philippines who are exposed to violence at home according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

"Their chances of becoming perpetrators are higher than those of children who are not exposed to domestic violence" says DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral.