TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Tabuk City Police Station (PNP-Tabuk) and its City Advisory Council (CAC) is planning to implement an enhanced ‘IMPLAN Paniyaw’ to bring down the number of rape cases in the city.
According to PNP-Tabuk chief PLTCOL Dinulong Tombali, the ‘significant increase’ in rape and sexual harassment cases across the Cordillera region has alarmed the Cordillera police and prompted the police provincial office to mount ‘IMPLAN Paniyaw’.
Named after one of the Kalinga core values, ‘IMPLAN Paniyaw’ involves Information Education Campaigns (IEC) and visits and conversations in communities.
For Tabuk, the PNP-Tabuk with the help of the CAC wants to enhance IMPLAN Paniyaw to turn it into a ‘multi-agency, multi-sectoral, and multimedia’ strategy.
In its meeting today, PNP-Tabuk led by Tombali and the CAC chaired by Indigenous People Mandatory Representative Sandra Uyam crafted initial plans to bolster ‘IMPLAN Paniyaw’ including submitting resolutions to the City Council, establishment of rape crisis and anti-violence against women and children (VAWC) centers and a rape hotline number, and expansion of the membership of the CAC to include members from the judiciary and the City Council.
Kalinga State University President Eduardo Bagtang also suggested to involve all higher education institutions in the city for the inclusion of IEC on rape in their curriculum. “Tapnu ada ti maymaysa nga kapapanutan ti academe where they can come up with the inclusion of these topics idiay subjects wherever is appropriate that would help the council in the IEC,” Bagtang said.
Bagtang was one of the newest members of the CAC who were sworn in today as part of the PNP-Tabuk Advisory Council meeting.
Tombali underscored the pressing need to address the problem on rape in the city not only because of the increase in numbers but also due to the prevalence of incest rape and the fact that most victims are minors.
Records of PNP-Tabuk’s Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) showed that of the 71 rape cases recorded in the city in the past five years, 27 are classified as incestuous which means the suspects are relatives of the victims.
Records also showed 49 victims are minors. “These data do not even include those unreported cases due to fear or shame,” the WCPD noted.
In 2022, four cases were recorded since January with the youngest victim a two-year old and the oldest only fifteen-years-old. In three of these cases, the suspects are the grandfathers and the father. “This is a matter of concern. Dapat ma-addressan daytuy,” Tombali said.