The shadow pandemic

Over the past two years, widespread lockdowns due to the COVID-19 global health crisis have created dangerous situations that exacerbated violence against women and girls — giving rise to what United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has referred to as a “shadow pandemic.”

In a report released last month, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) said this disease is more pervasive than the coronavirus, with the victims oppressed not by an unseen virus but by abusers they are trapped with at home—people they know and live with — and with little or no access to assistance or help desks as governments had to cut budgets or redirect personnel due to operational challenges.

Almost half of the respondents in the survey conducted by the UN across 13 countries said they or someone they knew experienced a form of violence since the pandemic started. While the Philippines was not among the countries surveyed, a separate survey conducted by Social Weather Stations and the Commission on Population and Development in the fourth quarter of last year showed that 1 out of 4, or 25 percent of Filipino adults, viewed violence as among the most urgent problems faced by women in the pandemic. The respondents cited three types of violence: physical violence (11 percent), sexual violence (7 percent), and emotional violence (7 percent).

But even before the pandemic, in 2019, 1 in 4 Filipino women was already experiencing violence from her husband, and only 3.5 percent of victims was able to seek professional help, according to FamiLigtas, a Facebook page that seeks to create awareness about gender-based violence (GBV), citing data from the National Demographic Health Survey that year.

The COVID-19 health crisis, which mandated people to isolate, then led to a situation that “enabled unseen violence,” according to UN Women executive director Sima Bahous. Based on data from the Philippine National Police, cases of violence rose at the onset of the pandemic. For just three months, from March to June last year, the PNP documented 4,260 cases of violence against women and children; more than half, or 2,183, were committed against women. In the first few weeks of the lockdown alone, an increase in GBV was already observed; the Women and Children’s Desk in Quezon City, for example, processed at least 12 complaints per week, more than twice the number it was receiving before the pandemic.

“While staying at home during the lockdowns in the first months of the quarantine was crucial for the government’s attempt to flatten the curve of positive virus cases and lessen the population’s vulnerability to contracting the disease, it opened up to different form of vulnerability for many others,” Pilar Pajayon-Berse, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the Political Science department of Ateneo de Manila University, wrote in a BusinessWorld commentary in October last year. “For women who are already in violent households, being on a lockdown for prolonged periods of time with their abusers made them even more vulnerable to domestic abuse…”

And what made it worse, said Oxfam Philippines, was the scant government action to protect victims, with only 0.0002 percent of funds for COVID-19 allotted to preventing gender violence. “While we are focusing on protecting the population against the virus, we may be neglecting the most at-risk members of our society, some of which may face higher risks of gender-based exploitation and abuse,” said Oxfam Pilipinas gender advisor Jeanette Kindipan-Dulawan.

The UN Women noted that there was a 63 percent increase in online searches on GBV keywords (eg.: “violent relationship,” “physical abuse signs”) in the Philippines between October 2019 and September 2020; the search volume grew for some search queries, i.e. “how to stop domestic violence,” “OWWA [Overseas Workers Welfare Administration] helpline,” etc., between April and September 2020. The Philippine Commission on Women, however, noted that there is still a “culture of silence” that prevails in the country, meaning many GBV cases go unreported because “many of the victims are ashamed to relate their experiences…”

But there should be no shame in reporting GBV and making use of government and NGO services set up to help victims, including the PNP Women and Children Protection Desk that operates 24/7 (Tel. No.: 8532-6690). Another one is the initiative by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) through its “e-Report sa Gender Ombud” (https://bit.ly/3se7Z11) page that allows victims to report abuse during the COVID-19 lockdown. Based on the available data from the site, 223 cases have been reported in the country, with the highest number of reports (70) made from the National Capital Region. The top violation reported was committed by a former husband or lover, with majority coming from the 31-40 age group.

In a post on its Facebook page last month, the CHR said: “Remember: It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to start again. It’s okay to rest. It’s okay to let go. It’s okay not to be okay.”