Male domestic abuse victims unprotected by current laws – men's rights group

Men's rights group Diego Silang Movement has claimed that current laws were insufficient to protect male victims of domestic abuse, GMA 7 news program "24 Oras" reported on Tuesday.



According to Diego Silang's Ron Factolerin, Republic Act (RA) 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 neglected male victims of domestic violence.

"Sana may pantay na pagtrato o meron sanang imbestigasyon muna bago ipatupad yung ganung ka-harsh na provisions nung batas na 'yun," lamented Factolerin.

Because of the law, family lawyer Atty. Nicky de Vega said, the only recourse available to abused men was to file criminal cases under the Revised Penal Code.

University of the Philippines Gender Studies Prof. Bernadette Neri, meanwhile, said the lack of statistics may be the reason why men were left out of policy making.

"Lumilikha ng mga batas ayun sa pangangailangan. Ang nagtulak talaga ay yung datos na ang daming kababaihan nadarahas," explained Neri.

This lack of statistics can be seen in the records of the Philippine National Police's Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC), which can account for the number of domestic abuse cases every year in which women are victims (23,865).

But the WCPC has no statistics for cases in which men are assaulted.

Another factor is the social acceptance of female-on-male violence by Filipinos. "Ibig sabihin, may kamalayan na yung tao na sa ating lipunan talaga bunerable yung mga babae," said Prof. Sarah Raymundo, sociologist at the UP Center for International Studies.

In a social experiment conducted by GMA News, bystanders intervened when a woman was being abused by a male companion.

However, when the situation was reversed, no one came to the aid of the abused male.

When interviewed after the experiment, a bystander defended the the non-intervention, arguing that men were strong enough to withstand any abuse a woman can dish out.

"Hindi natin sila dapat icriticize sa totoo lang. Fapat nga natin silang hangaan, kasi ang mga lalaking 'to -- pwede nilang saktan yung asawa nila e pero hindi nila ginagawa yun, tinitiis na lang nila yung pang aabuso ng asawa nila," De Vega added. — Rie Takumi, DVM, GMA News