Tacloban City – As an active advocate of Gender and Development (GAD), the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP), an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), conducted a Webinar on Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 or the Republic Act (RA) 9262 and Introduction to GAD Concepts and Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) held on November 27, 2021 via the Zoom Application.

This activity is in support to the 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women (VAW) of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) that started from 25 November to 12 December 2021, as mandated by Proclamation No. 1172, Series of 2006, with the theme: VAW-fee Community starts with me.

To widen the scope of its participants, NMP involved the women and men employees, and the seafarer-trainees of the different maritime courses of the agency, as well as the faculty members, instructors and cadets of the Palompon Institute of Technology in Palompon, Leyte and the Mariner’s Polytechnic Colleges Foundation in Camarines Sur. The invitation was also extended to the local government of Barangay 97 Cabalawan, Tacloban City, with the end goal of promoting a VAW-free community. This webinar also served as an information drive on the Safe Spaces Act or RA 11313, highlighting this year’s slogan, “Filipino Marespeto; Safe Spaces, Kasali Tayo.”

Executive Director Joel B. Maglunsod stressed in his opening message the need to respect the rights of each individual regardless of gender. He also said that the agency has been very active in raising awareness to end any kind of violence against women.

“We recognize that we cannot do this alone, may this activity bring about a change in mindset and perspective that violence against women and girls is a criminal offense and is punishable by law. We would like to highlight that people have diverse sexual orientation and gender identity and expression or SOGIE, and it is our responsibility to acknowledge, understand, accept and respect differences,” ED Maglunsod added.

Through this webinar, the participants were once again reminded that no one, regardless of their gender identity, should suffer from any sexual aggression. People should come as one community and unite to end any form of gender-based violence.

In closing, NMP Deputy Executive Director Mayla N. Macadawan gave emphasis that the active participation of men to end violence against women is very important. As she shared a quote from Eve Ensler, “Unless men are active allies, we’ll never end violence against women and girls.” With this, she urged everyone to always keep a straight forward path to fight for women and children’s rights and end gender discrimination to have a community free from any violence.

Meanwhile, NMP continues its regular conduct of free Gender Sensitivity Training for Seafarers (GSTS). For more information and updates about NMP trainings, visit the NMP website at www.nmp.gov.ph/ or https://register.nmp.gov.ph/ to register online, while the ongoing and completed researches can be accessed through our e-Research Portal at https://research.nmp.gov.ph/.