Philippines: Filipina executive elevates rape case to UN
By Jeannette Andrade

December 03, 2007- (Inquirer) It was the sight of her eleven-year-old daughter that convinced Karen Verdito to seek justice for her rape 11 years ago. Now, the injustice faced by other victims of sexual assault has driven her to seek the intervention of the United Nations.

Karen is the first Asian to elevate her case to the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), as a test case for the international community’s ability to pressure governments into implementing judicial reforms.

In a message she recently sent, read by her now, 20-year-old daughter Kai at a press conference at the News Desk Café, she said, “The document (communication) carries my name but in reality carries the name of every Filipino woman. For the outcome of this endeavor hopefully will change the way the judiciary and every pillar of justice handles every case of rape and every case of violence against women brought before them.”

“Why do I go on fighting, I am asked over and over again, especially now when I no longer have anything to gain, not even the satisfaction of putting a rapist in jail where he belongs. It may sound corny but I mean it from the bottom of my being. I fight because it is I who have been given the opportunity to fight,” her statement read.

“It could have been anybody else. But it landed on my lap -- pardon the pun. And I did not and will not back down until I see the light of justice. I fight for the young woman (Kai) who reads this to you now. I fight for her daughters, and her daughters’ daughters. I fight for you -- every one of you, and your daughters as well. I fight because I am given the opportunity to make this world more respectful of women,” she said.

Karen alleged that she was raped on March 29, 1996, by the former president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCCI) Jose Custodio. She was the DCCCI executive director.

Karen told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, that the day after the incident, she had not planned on going to the authorities about the incident.

“I was with my daughter (Kai) because her nanny was not available and I kept on repeating the mantra, ‘Nothing happened’ to myself the whole day. Then I broke down. I talked with some friends and I even asked them to keep the rape secret from my husband,” she recounts.

“I told them, ‘no police, no lawyers, no courts, please.’ I was freaking out and bawling. All that time, I forgot that my daughter was with me, until she peeked into the room and asked me if I wanted some water,” Karen recalls.

It was the sight of her daughter that convinced Karen to go to the police. “That moment, I knew I had to do it. I decided to go to the police for her sake. I did not want her to think that her mother was not fighting. I did not want her to grow up thinking that she cannot fight back if she is violated,” she told the Inquirer.

But the experience of nine years of litigation, she recalled, was “excruciating,” pointing out that she felt violated all over again. She endured five days of an intensive daily six-hour grilling by the defense lawyers, who sought to break her spirit.

“Every hearing, I felt that they were breaking me and taking away the fight in me. There were several times that I wanted to back down but I held on,” Karen said.

She confided that the decision rendered by Davao City regional trial court branch 11 Judge Virginia Hofilena-Europa on April 11, 2005, devastated her because the verdict “seemed to be blaming me for what happened.”

“The court, in effect, showed that there are two kinds of women: the ‘rapable’ and the ‘unrapable’ kind. I , according to the judge, fit the ‘unrapable’ mold,” she said with a chuckle, pointing out it was an absurd proposition from a judge she described as “unenlightened” about gender-sensitivity.

Karen said she did not fall in the “rapable” stereotype by society’s standards. “There was one conference when a rich lady from Davao City sought me out because she wanted to see the prominent businessman’s victim. She looked surprised when she saw me and said bluntly that she had been expecting somebody with a come-hither appearance,” she recalled.

“I understand her reaction. I did not fall into the stereotype of rape victims. I did not look like a whore. I appeared motherly. We have to change this mindset and let everybody know that this can happen to anyone. Rape is not about lust. It is about power,” Karen stressed.

She revealed that her ordeal did not end with her defeat in court and surviving every day was a greater challenge, when even her case ended up as a punch line in bad jokes.

Karen said that she remembered hearing one joke made by dzMM radio commentator Ted Failon who supposedly called the rape of a young woman as “Jalosjosism” (referring to former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos who was convicted for the rape of an 11-year-old) and the rape of an old woman as “Custodioism.”

“I did not find the joke in that. I think broadcasters should be more sensitive than that,” she remarked. She recalled that when she heard the “joke,” she went home and cried the whole day.

“All rape victims want is to be believed. Victims don’t make up stories just so they could expose themselves to the public. They said I just wanted attention, but I had it as an executive director of the DCCCI and as the only female official, I did not need this kind of attention,” she emphasized.

Karen’s communication under the Optional Protocol to the CEDAW seeks for the UN to compel the Philippine government to undertake measures to ensure the full recognition, enjoyment, and exercise of the rights guaranteed to women under the Women’s Convention and other human rights conventions and to comply with its obligations under the Women’s Convention, where the country is a signatory.

For the judiciary: the communication proposes the investigation of the regularity of Judge Europa’s actions; the development of a training program for court judges and lawyers specifically on sexual violence; a review of jurisprudence on rape and other forms of sexual violence; the establishment of a monitoring system for trial court decisions in cases of rape and other sexual offenses; the compilation and analysis of data on the number of sexual violence cases; and the provision for the right of appeal of victims of rape in cases of acquittals anchored on discriminatory grounds.

For the congress: a review of the laws against rape and other forms of sexual violence including their enforcement and implementation; and appropriation of adequate funds for the establishment of rape crisis centers.

Evalyn Ursua, Karen’s lawyer and chair of the Women’s Legal Bureau, revealed that more than 90 percent of rape cases were usually dismissed.

“We hope the response of the Supreme Court is positive. This is the opportunity for the judiciary to initiate reforms and a chance for the Supreme Court to pursue its vision for a gender-sensitive judiciary,” Ursua pointed out.

She assured that the communication would be received and the UN committee would make the recommendations and pressure the government to abide by the CEDAW.

Karen told the Inquirer, “It isn’t just closure that I want. I have to make sense as to why it happened to me, why I had to go through nine years of excruciating litigation. I felt like a victim over and over and over again.”

“I was looking for hope when I talked to a comfort woman. I asked her if a victim ever gets over the rape. She told me, ‘you carry it your whole life.’ I, and my family, continue to bear the incident,” Karen said.

She said that she found hope, nonetheless, that the international community would believe her when she was not given that benefit by her own compatriots.

From:http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=104602