Solon says amendment to include men in VAWC law will make it inclusive

MANILA, Philippines — The new lawmaker who filed a bill to amend the Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) laws to include men and the LGBTQ+ community among possible victims defended her proposal from criticisms, insisting that she was only aiming for inclusivity.

Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) party-list Rep. Margarita Nograles explained on Tuesday that her House Bill No. 1365 which seeks to amend Republic Act No. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 does not diminish the reality faced by women suffering from domestic abuse.

This is contrary to what fellow lawmaker Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas implied on Monday — shortly after Nograles announced the filing of the bill. According to Brosas, the bill trivializes the harrowing experiences of abused women, noting that male victims can easily file for physical injury raps.

“The proposed bill does not remove or question the fact that there are women and children that are being abused. It also does not diminish the reality that women and children are domestically abused,” Nograles said.

READ: VAWC law amendment sought to include husbands, LGBT+

The neophyte lawmaker also stressed that R.A. No. 9262 would still exist even if the amendments are enacted.

“The Anti-VAWC law is a law existing and still will exist to protect women and children, the amendment simply makes this cater to all genders and gender preferences to remove if not eradicate domestic abuse being done to not only women and children, but now to include men and the LGBTQI+ community,” Nograles said.

“Surely, Gabriela Partylist does not mean to remove men and the LGBTQI+ community from the equation that they too have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse,” she added.

In the bill, Nograles said that she raised the proposal with the understanding that domestic abuse is not “an exclusive problem of women and children” — given the rising cases of men and LGBTQ+ members affected by these issues.

Absent any law protecting men and the LGBTQ+ community, Nograles said that these people — especially men called ‘ander de saya’ for being submissive — are experiencing abuse and discrimination by society.

If House Bill No. 1365 is enacted, the term ‘partners’ will be included in Section 2 of R.A. No. 9262 — the provision that tackles who would be protected by the law. The said word and the male pronoun ‘his’ can also be found in several parts of the proposed amendments to R.A. No. 9262, like as what actions constitute domestic violence and who is subjected to physical and sexual violence.

But Brosas asked fellow lawmakers to reevaluate the bill, as women and children remain the most common victims of domestic abuse. Instead, the Gabriela representative said that laws that would strengthen the prevention of VAWC should be crafted since misogyny is still prevalent in the Philippines.

“Domestic abuse is about power and control. Therefore, in an abusive relationship, only one person can be the aggressor. And to be called an abuser, you have to have the upper hand in terms of social and monetary capital. In the Philippine society, where misogyny and sexism are rampant, men always have the upper hand,” Brosas noted.

READ: Women party-list wary of including men as victims in VAWC law 

Domestic abuse has been a problem plaguing the country, with numbers bloating during the pandemic as couples were forced to spend more time together due to stay-at-home protocols.

However, another facet of abuse also centers on men who have refused to talk about their experience of abuse due to the macho culture that pokes fun at submissive males.

READ: More Filipino men battered by their wives

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