THE City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) is raising alarm over the massively increased incidence of recorded child abuse in Baguio City this year.
Cynhtia Langagan, assistant City Social and Welfare and Development officer, disclosed that for the first six months of this year, there were already 96 child abuse cases that were reported in the city compared to the 45 cases that were recorded during the whole year of 2022.
In a bid to formulate the appropriate responses to the increasing child abuse incidence in the city, Langagan said that the CSWDO will provide both gathered data and expertise in order to aid the creation of intervention systems and programs to address child abuse.
The CSWDO also reported 36 cases of children in conflict with the law (CICL) and 15 children registered in the database as at-risk to date in 2023.
To address the CICLs, the local government is planning to strengthen its advocacy on family relations by bringing outreach and forums to the grassroots in barangays, citing the CSWDO’s reports that most CICLs are those that belong to “dysfunctional” families.
