Fariñas seeks creation of centralized Baguio VAWC hotline

BAGUIO CITY – Councilor Lilia Fariñas filed before the city council a proposed ordinance creating a centralized hotline to receive complaints and reports on trafficking and violence against women and their children (VAWC).
The proposed ordinance seeks to address the problems on the process flow in receiving reports on trafficking and VAWC. Currently, the victims, depending on the gravity and nature of their cases, go to the barangay VAWC desk, to the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), or to any member of the Local Committee on Anti-Trafficking and Violence Against Women and their Children (LCATVAWC) of the city government for advice and assistance.
These scant information gathered by each LCAT-VAWC agency member may compromise the efficiency of the LCAT-VAWC in responding to these cases.
The proposed measure shall introduce amore organized process flow where all calls made by potential victims or concerned citizens through the LCAT-VAWC hotline number or through the LCAT-VAWC Facebook page shall be referred to the proper LCAT-VAWC member, shall record or document the cases, and shall follow-up on the progress of these cases until closure or completion of the actions taken by the appropriate agency.
The LCAT-VAWC was established pursuant to Executive Order No. 164, series of 2019 and DILG-DSWD-DOJ Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2010-1.
The LCAT-VAWC is the counterpart of the Regional Inter-Agency Councils Against Trafficking and Violence Against Women and their Children (IACAT-VAWCs) which were put into place nationwide to effectively carry out the government’s objective to address problems on trafficking and violence against women and their children.
The proposed ordinance stated that any of the LCATVAWC member agencies, as provided by the executive order, may be designated as the LCAT-VAWC Call Central Agency in order to save on resources.
The said member agency shall be provided with the needed equipment such as a desktop/laptop with internet connection. The center agent/s shall be given training and allowance for the services provided.
The LCAT-VAWC hotline number may be a landline number, a telephone number, or both.
Furthermore, an LCAT-VAWC Facebook page shall be created which is supplementary to the hotline number. The FB page shall likewise be managed by the LCAT-VAWC Call Central Agency.
The ordinance was approved on first reading and was referred to the Sanggunian’s Committee on Social Services, Women, and Urban Poor for review.
(JGH-SP/ABN)

Amianan Balita Ngayon