Maltreated Husbands Can Now Avail Brgy. Protection

Married women in Cebu City who maltreats their husbands can be also prevented from staying their conjugal homes if their spouses will request a Barangay Protection Order (BPO) from their barangay captains.

Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo said he was the one who authored the domestic violence ordinance in Cebu City, which also give equal protection to husbands if they are the ones maltreated by their wives.

The domestic ordinance of Cebu City was crafted a few years after Republic Act 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act was enacted in 2004, which only covers the rights of the women and children.

“Amo g’yud nga gihatagan og equal protection ang mga bana diha sa ordinansa kay duna may mga sitwasyon nga ang mga bana maoy gidagmalan sa ilang mga asawa,” Carillo said.

He added that the battered husband will just proceed to their barangay captain to ask for a Barangay Protection Order.

Once the barangay captain will issue the BPO the concerned wife of the complainant will no longer be allowed to enter their conjugal house to prevent further incident.

But Rose Salazar of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said they have not encountered yet even a single case that a husband complain that he was maltreated by his wife.

“Wala pa g’yud mi rekord sa DSWD nga dunay bana nga mireklamo,” said Salazar. During the radio program personally handled by Carillo, the city official said “Basin og nauwaw lang nga mahibaw-an.”

The victims of most domestic abuse situations are indeed women, but in some occasions the domestic violence involved women as the aggressors, creating a new category of victim known as the battered husband.

Carillo said an abused husband suffers the same emotional, verbal and physical abuse as a battered wife, but they are ashamed to report these crimes to the authorities.

In some occasion, a battered husband will often spend more time at work to avoid potential conflicts with his wife or in some occasions he may decide to rest in the family car or office.