Puno: PNP’s women and children desks are everywhere

Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno has called on victims of domestic violence, exploitation and child abuse to seek help by going directly to Women and Children Protection Desks (WCPD) that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has put up in all municipal police stations throughout the country.

Female cops, who now comprise 10 percent of the country’s 120,000-strong police force, will supervise WCPDs nationwide, Puno said.

Puno, who chairs the National Police Commission (Napolcom) in addition to his main job as the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), said that he had ordered the PNP to set up a Women and Children Protection Center in every region in the country and counterpart centers at the provincial and city levels.

According to Puno, the staffing of the Centers and WCPDs with female police officers was meant to provide women and children a more comfortable setting when seeking assistance from the police. He added that these women- and children-friendly centers would have a more relaxed, “home-like” ambiance, brightly colored walls and even temporary shelters for distraught women and kids.

“There is already a Women and Children Protection Desk in every police station in every town in our country,” Puno said. “So in every municipality, our women and youth now have a place to turn to for help.”

These centers and WCPDs will handle cases of violence and abuse committed against women and children, including trafficking and exploitation as defined under Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004.

Puno said the establishment of these Centers demonstrated the importance that the DILG and PNP had placed on family-related concerns and these institutions’ responsiveness to gender-sensitivity issues.

He said the centers being set up at the regional levels would follow a program “that will promote and propagate both the consciousness and knowledge of what we need to do to protect our women and children.”

The PNP has tapped the distaff side of the entire police force to supervise its WCPDs nationwide.

In the first half of 2008, a total of 3,499 police recruits from the police regional offices, Special Action Force (SAF) and Headquarters Support Services (HSS) were hired by the PNP.

Of these 3,499 recruits, 462 are women, representing 13.2 percent or an average ratio of 1:6 against male appointees.

For the second phase of the PNP’s recruitment program last year, total of 4,775 recruits were sworn into office in December, where 462 or 13.59 percent are women or also an average ratio of 1:6 against male appointees.

Moreover, 128 graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) in 2008 were appointed as Police Inspectors, 21 of whom are women.

Puno said these WCPDs are being expanded nationwide in partnership with non-government organizations.

The PNP’s goal, he said, is to ensure that these WCPDs are functioning in every municipality as “one-stop shops” for the investigation and treatment of victims of child abuse, violence against women and other similar crimes.

The Women and Children Protection Center at Camp Crame, which is headed by a woman general — Chief Supt. Yolanda Tanigue — has so far established 1,830 WCPDs nationwide staffed with 2,728 female police officers, of whom 1,951 have undergone training on gender sensitivity and the basic investigative skills in handling crimes against women and children.

Among the more prominent cases now being investigated by the WCPC is the complaint filed by actress Yasmien Kurdi against actor Baron Geisler for acts of lasciviousness, sexual harassment and unjust vexation.

Patricia Martinez, the daughter of the actors William Martinez and Yayo Aguila, also filed last year a complaint against Geisler for acts of lasciviousness.– Daily Tribune