GABRIELA Women’s Party joined thousands of women worldwide in the One Billion Rising dance protest, highlighting the alarming rise of violence against women and children amid the continuing economic crisis in the Philippines.
“Today, we dance in solidarity with women across the globe to demand an end to all forms of violence against women. Sa bawat hakbang at sayaw, ipinapahayag natin ang ating pagkakaisa at determinasyong wakasan ang karahasan laban sa kababaihan,” Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas stated.
The party-list solon emphasized that the dance protest carries extra significance given recent data showing that only 1 in 10 VAW cases are reported to authorities.
“The dance is both our expression of rage and hope. We rage against a system that continues to silence women victims, but we also dance to show that together, we have the power to break this culture of violence,” she said.
For her part, Gabriela Women’s Party’s first nominee Sarah Elago called for stronger implementation of laws protecting women, including the Anti-VAWC Law, and pushed for the immediate passage of House Bill 403 or the EVAWC Bill which seeks to address the limitations of the current Anti-VAWC Law by including provisions against electronic and other ICT-facilitated violence.
“Sa gitna ng tumitinding krisis pang-ekonomiya, mas tumitindi rin ang karahasan laban sa kababaihan nagkakaroon ito ng iba’t ibang porma. We cannot dance around these issues anymore – we need concrete action from the government to protect women and children,” Elago emphasized.
“Let our collective dance be a warning to perpetrators and a call to action for the government. Hindi tayo titigil sa pagsayaw, hindi tayo titigil sa pakikibaka hanggang makamit ang tunay na kalayaan para sa lahat ng kababaihan,” she concluded.
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