Women’s Crisis Center for Completion in Dumaguete

The long-awaited Women’s Crisis Center in Dumaguete City will soon be completed by early 2024, according to the Provincial Gender and Development (GAD) Focal Person Josefina Column. The Voice of the Free (VF) was instrumental in inspiring and lobbying for the inception of the project.

When the construction of the center started in 2015, members of the GAD visited the Center of Hope in Rizal to learn from the experiences of VF social workers and improve the design, systems and policies of the proposed facility.

Crisis centers provide a space for battered women to recover from the physical, psychological, and emotional trauma of abuse. They serve as a venue for legal, psycho-social, and livelihood interventions for the women and children.

Reported cases including rape, acts of lasciviousness, gender-based sexual harassment, and other RA 9262 violations against women and children almost doubled in Negros Oriental from January to November 2023. From 179 cases recorded in January to November 2022, it jumped to 363 cases in the same period this year, said PNP Negros Oriental Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) Chief P/Lt. Helen Grace Aldirite