Baguio child abuse cases up; authorities alarmed

BAGUIO CITY – The City Social Welfare and Development Office bared alarming increase in child abuse cases saying concerned government agencies and the local government needed to address the matter.
    City Social Welfare and Development Officer Betty Fangasan said there were 76 child abuse cases in the city last year.
    “In less than six moths of the present year, there were already 71 child abuse cases that were documented by the local government which is now one of the issues being looked into by social welfare officers,” she said.
    Fifty two of documented abused children were females while 19 were males.
     Fangasan added 20 of the child abuse cases were molestation.
    Two cases had already been filed in court while 18 were physical abuse cases.
     The city social welfare officer said based on investigation, major reason for such abuse was alleged failure of the children to attend to their modules, among other reasons.

Victims of child abuse cases and perpetrators had reportedly been counseled by social welfare officers.

Fangasan said most perpetrators of the child abuse cases were family members, relatives and neighbors.

Most cases were either being discussed by both parties under close supervision of social welfare workers or settled by involved parties.

 Fangasan attributed increase in the number of child abuse cases to residents who reported such abuses to authorities.

The social welfare office is reportedly providing psychological or psychiatric counselling to victims in coordination with the City Health Services Office (CHSO) to prevent victims from further abuse.

The local government department head appealed to the public to be vigilant on child abuse cases being committed in their neighborhood and report these to authorities so these could be addressed. -- Dexter A. See