Hannah Arendt, a German-American political theorist, says that violence is nothing more than the most flagrant manifestation

of power. Its subtlety is expected in many forms yet it is the most pervasive construct in our status quo as a free nation. Deeply embedded in our culture, the many facets of violence specifically against women and children, are something that we hope to dismantle. However, as intolerable the status quo is, there is fear and often denial of the muffled murmurs of protest which leads us to accept the banality of our condition as an otherwise progressive society.

While gender-based violence is an old concept, only over a decade ago has it been recognised as a human rights issue. Although it gained traction on the international level, gender-based violence is tolerated because victims fear of being shamed that they violated the rules of conservative society. As a construct of power, the effort required to dismantle violence in the Philippines requires patience, and also creativity.

CEDAW and the Birth of RA 9262

In response to the growing concern of violence against women and children, our Congress passed RA 9262: An Act Defining Violence against Women and their Children on 08 March 2014. While it is an advent of progress in regard to the status of women, it has met a number of reprisals from some individuals challenging the constitutionality of the law.

In the landmark case of Garcia vs. Drilon, the Supreme Court held that RA 9262 is not violative of the equal protection clause and the due process clause of the Constitution. According to Atty. Myra Angeli GallardoBatungbakal, a lecturer at San Beda College Alabang School of Law and arbitrator at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), RA 9262 is not unconstitutional because the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that the rights of women should be respected and we should advance the interests of women in the Philippines. It is incumbent upon us to come up with laws in congruence to the Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) . She further explains that as a signatory to the CEDAW, it is legal basis for RA 9262.

Although widely accepted, CEDAW has yet to permeate cultures that are resistant to the concept of equality extending to the private domain. Similarly, the challenge that beholds RA 9262 in the Philippines is to break the silence generated by intimacy between individuals. A perfunctory glance at the situation of women and children in the Philippines reveals a paradox. While the Philippines is an active participant in the fight against gender-based discrimination, cases of violences against women remain underreported.

The Intimacy of Violence

In most countries, gender-based violence is perpetuated in the home. Brutality at the hands of relatives, friends, and significant others do not command headlines because it happens within the realm of privacy. Furthermore, women do not speak about the violence experienced due to several factors such as shame and self-blame for the violence, fear of the abusers retaliation, limited resources to pursue justice, inaccessible or unavailable facilities where one can report the violence, among others. In cases of intimate partner violence, many women also experience being filtered out of the legal justice system when they are pressured by village mediators to reconcile with their abusive partners.1

Peculiar to our jurisdiction, the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9262 prohibit mediation of cases involving violence against women and children. Atty. Batungbakal explains that VAWC cases are not mediatable, the reason being to prevent the exposure of women and children to the perpetrators of the violence. Although violence can be mediated in other cultures such as California and other states in the USA, the non-referral of a VAWC case to a mediator is justified in our country. In the same case of Garcia vs. Drilon, the petitioner, Jesus C. Garcia, argued that by not allowing mediation, the law violated the policy of the State to protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution cannot be sustained. In a memorandum of the Court, it ruled that the court shall not refer the case or any issue thereof to a mediator. This is so because violence is not a subject for compromise. In addition to limiting the exposure of the victims to their abusers, Atty. Batungbakal surmises that the paramount concern of RA 9262 is the preservation of dignity of women and children.

Percolating through mainstream Philippine culture, RA 9262 protects women and children regardless of ethnic backgrounds. Atty. Batungbakal explains that violence in all its forms is not specific to urban areas. Twice removed from the mainstream, indigenous women seek to address the issue of violence against women and children in the context of their customary laws. The problem in post-colonial states like the Philippines, customary laws are often discordant with state laws, usually with the state having the power and the indigenous people being marginalised. Indigenous people have distinct cultures and community laws. In the face of violence, indigenous women have to be educated on their rights. Although there are cultural differences, there is a common thread - women have rights, must not be abused in any form, and must not be discriminated against solely because of gender. It is when one does not know or demand ones right that victimisation starts.

Violence beyond the realm of gender

Womens Legal Bureau, Engendering the Barangay Justice System (2004).

In the same case of Garcia vs. Drilon, Justice Marvic Leonen recognised the existence of battered men and that violence in the context of intimate relationships should not be seen and encrusted as a gender issue; rather, it is a power issue.2

Traditionally, power-based violence is confined to violence against women but as we try to understand the scope of violence against people in general, the term violence against women diminishes the experiences of the battered men. While gender-based crimes are commonly committed by men against women, the underlying theme in these offences is the desire to assert power and control over another person. Because females are seen as second-class citizens, there is a devaluation of the feminine within our culture, and violence against women is expanded from the traditional heteronormative 3 social structures to a demonstration of the helplessness of the other and a display of superiority by the aggressor. While there are no existing laws protecting other abused sectors such as the battered men, Atty. Batungbakal comments that other abused groups are at liberty to come up with proposals to advance their interests.

While RA 9262 punishes violence against women and children, putting a halt to this issue requires changing the unconscious perception that women are the weaker sex. By recognising that women are equal members of society will this violence be viewed as an abnormality. Eliminating this violence is essential in our blueprint of human progress.

A. Detschelt, Recognizing Domestic Violence Directed Towards Men: Overcoming Societal Perceptions, Conducting Accurate Studies, and Enacting Responsible Legislation, 12 KAN. J.L. & PUB. POL'Y 249 (2003). 3 Heteronormativity is defined as the predominance and privileging of a definitely heterosexual-based ideology and social structure that acts as the exclusive interpreter of itself and of all other sexualities in relation to it. Definition found in A. Ponce, Shoring up Judicial Awareness: LGBT Refugees and the Recognition of Social Categories, 18 NEW ENG. J. INTL. & COMP. L. 185 (2012) citing M. Warner, FEAR OF A QUEER PLANET: QUEER POLITICS AND SOCIAL THEORY (1993).