More than 81 percent of the victims of sexual offenses, psychological violence and fraud in 2022 were women and children.
This was disclosed by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Catanduanes last week as it joined the national observance of the 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women (VAW), held annually from 25 November to 12 December, by releasing key statistics on violence experienced by women and girls across the province.
The data on updated indicators of crime victimization and VAW-related offenses drawn from the 2022 Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), however, is incomplete as the capital town of Virac did not participate in the 2022 CBMS.
In the 10 municipalities, a total of 2,472 individuals became victims of crime in the past 12 months of that year from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, with males accounting for nearly 51 percent of the total.
Pandan recorded the highest number of victims at 570 individuals, followed closely by Caramoran with 566 victims. These two municipalities accounted for the largest share of reported crime victims in the province while the least number of victims were reported in Panganiban (73), Gigmoto (51), and Baras (47).
The town of Pandan posted the highest proportion of crime victims at 2.7 percent, with 293 male and 277 female individuals reported as victims, followed by San Miguel at 1.9% (156 male and 127 female), and Caramoran at 1.8% (289 male and 277 female).
Moderate proportions were observed in Viga (1.4%), Bagamanoc (1.0%), San Andres (0.9%), and Panganiban (0.8%). Lower proportions were recorded in Bato (0.7%), Gigmoto (0.6%), and Baras (0.4%).
Victims of Sexual Offense
In 2022, a total of 34 individuals across the 10 participating municipalities were identified as victims of sexual offenses, which include sexual assault and rape.
Caramoran recorded the highest number of victims at seven (7), followed by Pandan and San Miguel with five (5) each.
Bato, San Andres, and Viga reported four (4) victims each, while Gigmoto recorded two (2) victims of sexual offense during the reference period. Bagamanoc, Baras, and Panganiban registered one (1) female victim each.
Of the total victims of sexual offenses, only one was male, with the incident reported in Caramoran.
Almost all of the victims reported the offense to authorities and only one, from Caramoran, chose not to do so. One of the five cases in San Miguel fell under the category “Prefer Not to Answer.”
More males (59) than females (41) were victims of assault and threat, with San Miguel recording the highest number at 23 individuals, followed by Caramoran with 22, and San Andres with 18.
Here are the tallies from the other towns: Pandan, 11; Gigmoto, 7; Baras and Viga, 6 each; and Bato and Panganibam, 4 each. Bagamanoc did not record a single case.
The data indicated that male victims outnumbered females in San Andres (14 males), San Miguel (12), Caramoran (11), and Pandan (7).
Conversely, female victims were higher in Baras (4) and Bato (3).
Victims of Psychological Violence
Caramoran recorded the highest number of victims of psychological violence, including mobbing and stalking, with nine (9) individuals, followed by San Miguel with 7, and Bato and Pandan with 3 each.
Bagamanoc and San Andres reported 2 victims each, while Panganiban and Viga recorded one victim each. No cases were reported in Baras and Gigmoto.
Reporting to authorities varied across municipalities, with all victims in Bagamanoc, Bato, Panganiban, and San Andres reporting the incident.
In contrast, six of the 9 victims in Caramoran did not approach the police while all three of the Pandan victims also kept silent.
In terms of sex distribution, female victims outnumbered males in most municipalities, particularly in San Miguel (6 females, 1 male) and Caramoran (5 females, 4 males).
In total, 21 of the 28 victims of psychological violence were female, the PSA stated.
Victims of Theft, Robbery and Fraud
Based on the 2022 CBMS, Caramoran recorded the highest number of theft victims with 95 individuals, followed by Pandan (62) and San Miguel (48). Moderate counts were observed in San Andres (42), Bato (23), and Viga (40), while Bagamanoc (25), Baras (8), Panganiban (7), and Gigmoto (2) reported fewer cases.
Females outnumbered males in most municipalities, except in San Miguel, Bagamanoc, and Viga. Reporting to authorities remained low, with the highest in Caramoran (22), San Miguel (20), and Viga (21).
In 2022, reported cases of robbery—defined as theft involving violence—varied across municipalities in Catanduanes.
San Andres recorded the highest number of victims with 6, followed by San Miguel with 5, and Bato and Viga with 3 each.
Reporting to authorities was limited, with the highest number of reported cases in San Andres (4), followed by San Miguel (3), Pandan (2), and one case each in Bagamanoc, Baras, Bato, and Panganiban.
In 2022, reported cases of fraud—including cheating, credit card fraud, and internet fraud— were recorded the highest in Pandan with five individuals (1 male and 4 females), followed by Panganiban, San Andres, and San Miguel with three victims each.
Bato reported one victim, while Bagamanoc, Baras, Caramoran, Gigmoto, and Viga had no reported victims.
Nine of the 15 fraud victims in Catanduanes were female, the PSA report stated.