The City Government of Davao has created the Local Committee on Anti-Trafficking and Violence Against Women and Their Children (LCAT-VAWC) to address the issue of human trafficking and violence against women and children.
Executive Order (EO) No. 4, Series of 2023, signed on February 9, 2023, by Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, is in line with the highest priority given by the state to protect the people from violence and exploitation, as declared in Republic Act No. 9208 (Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003) and Republic Act No. 9262 (Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004).
The LCAT-VAWC will serve as a functional and parallel structure at the local level to monitor and oversee the implementation of laws and policies related to trafficking and violence against women and children.
LCAT-VAWC shall be composed of the city mayor as the chairperson and the City Social and the City Social Welfare and Development Office department head as co-chair.
The members are the head of the City Planning and Development Office, City Health Office, the Integrated Gender and Development Division, and the City Public Employment Services Office, along with the city prosecutor, the Department of the Interior and Local (DILG) city director, the Davao City Police Office director, and the chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Women, Children, and Family.
There will also be representatives from non-government organizations (NGOs), including one each from the women, children, and overseas Filipino workers sectors. These NGO representatives, however, must have a record of involvement in the prevention and suppression of trafficking in persons and violence against women and children.
The LCAT-VAWC, anchored on RA Nos. 9208 and 9262, is tasked with implementing policies and programs to protect women and children who are victims of trafficking and violence.
The committee has the power to create and establish systems for surveillance, investigations, and rescue, and to undertake information, education, and advocacy campaigns against trafficking in persons and violence against women and children.
It is also responsible for monitoring and overseeing the implementation of relevant laws, providing guidance and counseling to women abroad, making representations to schools and universities, referring trafficked persons and victims of violence to appropriate agencies, and formulating programs for their return and rehabilitation.
The LCAT-VAWC can also secure assistance from local government units and national government departments and has the power to exercise all necessary measures to attain its purposes and objectives.
EO 4 also mandates the CSWDO as the committee secretariat.
The funding and operating costs for the LCAT-VAWC will be derived from the available funds and resources of the local government, under accounting and auditing regulations.
Click ? https://dcstaging.davaocity.gov.ph/transparency/executive-orders/2023-2/ for the full provisions of EO 4. CIO
