Maramag Focus Group Discussio on Gender Based Violence Referral Mechanism October 3, 2019 Maramag, Bukidnon mentioned that there were several cases where the complainants did not appear in court. He said that in rape cases, victims would accept thirty to fifty thousand pesos and not appear in court anymore. Aside from interventions for empowerment and independence of women, he said it is important to have a mechanism to detect whether the victim or complainant has “battered wife syndrome”. The PNP WCPD Office added that they also know of such cases where the complainant will not continue with the case filed in court either because they accepted money as settlement of the case or wives would “pity and forgive” their perpetrator-husbands. In cases where the wife has been abused and filed complaints several times already only to desist from the court case each time, the MSWDO said they just advise the couple to separate. The Provincial Prosecutor also shared of the difficulties in language and translation in some cases involving indigenous women. He then reiterated that GBV cases should not be „resolved‟ by barangay officials as this is against the law. CHR Atty. Baliton-Isidra said maybe barangay officials are not familiar with the Anti-VAWC law and they do not know that they cannot resolve GBV cases, she asked the group whether the town officials have intervened regarding this situation to orient the barangay officials regarding this matter. No one answered this question. The MSWDO then shared that they noticed that the number of GBV cases that they receive in their office is declining, although this may be because of the fact that there are GBV cases being resolved and settled in the barangay. The group was asked what other difficulties they face in handling GBV cases: The PNP WCPD Office shared of their difficulty in getting information from children five years old and below, especially when the child victims-survivor have not gone through the MSWDO before their interview with the PNP. The MSWDO also shared their difficulty in what approach to use with children who are rape victims, given the situation that they do not have a licensed psychologist. They usually cannot get all the information in one day. The Provincial Prosecutor on his part also shared that in cases for Preliminary Investigation it was alright for child victims-survivors to continue with their interview at another time, but the situation is more difficult in Inquest Cases where they have to urgently need to get the information from the child victim who will not „immediately‟ tell their story to the fiscals, specially male fiscals, and also without any social worker present. In relation to this difficulty in dealing with child victims, CHR-X Special Investigator Raymundo Cajes asked the group whether they get trainings related to handing child victims and whether they consider psychological elements in intervening in GBV cases. The Provincial Prosecutor answered that there are trainings in handling child victims-survivor. Still he said that he hopes the MSWDO can intervene in such cases because children are more relaxed with social workers and relatives. He shared that it is easier interviewing children aged 12 and higher. But he clarified that the level of information that they need is only to attain requirements of „probable cause‟ and not „proof beyond reasonable doubt‟. If it is a rape case, they also have to see whether the case falls under RA 7610 or Rape under the Revised Penal Code. The group was asked of their successes in intervening in GBV cases: The PNP WCPD Office shared that they consider successes those „cases that go directly for inquest‟, while the Provincial Prosecutor said „wives that do not desist‟. The fiscal also shared that he is happy he has not lost any rape case that he handled. The MSWDO shared about a case where they continued their support to the victim-survivor even in the face of receiving “threats” – this case was won in court. Page 8 of 13