Growth of rape cases in Davao City noted; DCPO vows to combat sexual crimes

The DCPO record showed that for eight months this year, at least 98 cases of rape occurred compared to 96 during the same period in 2021.

Out of the 98 cases, 89 victims are female and nine are male. Of these cases, 21 were incestuous rape, 45 were committed by an acquaintance of the victim. 

All 98 cases are already filed in court with all suspects identified. 

At present, 38 arrests against the suspects had already been made. 

Police Major Maria Teresita Gaspan, chief of DCPO’s Women and Children Protection Desk, said the police will be bolstering its capacity to respond to sexual abuse cases observed to be rising in the city. 

She said DCPO has already laid out its initial plans in combatting rape and other sexual crimes during the Consultative Forum Addressing Rape and Sexual Abuse Cases held at the Camp Captain Domingo E. Leonor on Monday (August 22).

The police recorded 175 cases in 2019, 173 cases in 2020 and 169 cases in 2021. 

Gaspan in a report from the City Information Office (CIO) said there is a need to establish a hollistic anti-criminality forum dedicated to address rape and other sexual crimes. She said such forum should be composed of all agencies concerned, including “schools, barangays, faith-based (groups), other-agencies and other stakeholders.”

There are also plans to add more security personnel in certain police stations to balance out the police-civilian ratio in some areas of the city, she said.

She further said the DCPO will also be streamlining its referral pathways in responding to rape and sexual abuse cases. 

Gaspan who is also the spokesperson of DCPO  also said that there must be  regular programs geared toward the prevention of sexual crimes such as inter-agency consultative meetings/conferences, capacity building trainings, school-based and community-based information drive, safe and unsafe touch lectures, barangay pulong-pulong/dialogue, regular patrolling, and raising awareness through traditional media and through social media will be heightened.

This year, the DCPO's Sagop Kabataan program, which aims to rescue minors from sexual exploitation, has conducted 2,403 operations, rescuing a total of 1,117 youths. Of these, 817 are male and 320 are female. 

The forum was also attended by other DCPO officials led by Acting City Director Colonel Alberto Lupaz, Atty. Charmaine P. Valentin of the Special Council-Violence Against Women from the Integrated Gender and Development Division (IGDD), IGDD head Lorna Mandin, and city council’s Committee on Women chair Trisha Ann Villafuerte. 

Lupaz, meanwhile, ordered the 20 police station commanders in the city to do whatever they can to safeguard the city's record as one of the country's safest cities, stressing on the need to eradicate incestuous rapes by conducting “pulong-pulong” or dialogues at the barangay levels. 

“The marching order is to downtrend rape cases in your area,” Lupaz said. 

He said the city must continue to live up to its reputation of a child-friendly city. 

Lorna Mandin, IGDD head, for her part, said the rise in reported rape cases could be a sign that the “culture of silence” among rape victims is slowly being broken down by efforts from various agencies in fighting the stigma against victims of sexual crimes. 

She said the fight against rape is not only the responsibility of the city police but also of the community.