DSWD-6 launches campaign vs elderly abuse

THE Department of Social Wefare and Development (DSWD) Field Office VI yesterday launched a campaign to prevent elderly abuse.

The program, called ReSPPEC or Reporting System and Prevention Program for Elder Abuse Cases, was launched in Lambunao, Iloilo, the only pilot area in Western Visayas.

Director Thelsa Biolena of the DSWD Social Technology Bureau and regional director Rebecca Geamala 

during the commitment signing

“The program is titled ReSPPEC which sounds like the word respect which means paggalang. This is not only a program to encouraging reporting abuse to the elderly but also aims to prevent occurence of such,” said Director Thelsa Biolena of DSWD Social Technology Bureau in Manila.

ReSPPEC aims to protect the rights of the elderly against all forms of abuse by having the right to know how in detecting elder abuse and ways of preventing it, and the establishment of local reporting mechanismsand referral system in order to provide services for their full rehabilitation and recovery.

“Instead of the elderly suffering from abuse, we should all be reminded that they need our understanding. We have to know the dynamics of the older person. Some of them bumabalik sa pagka-bata, mayroong nagtatampo,” said Biolena.

During  the launching, the DSWD, represented by Biolena and regional director Rebecca P. Geamala, and the local government unit of Lambunao entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the implementation of the program.

Aside from Lambunao, other pilot areas include San Carlos in Pangasinan; Maco in Compostela Valley; and Valenzuela City in the National Capital Region.

In the implementation of ReSPPEC, the DSWD will provide the technical assistance as well as allocate fund.  Lambunao, on the other hand, will have  a local reporting mechanism and referral network in the management of elder abuse cases, to utilize a dabase and information system for the cases.

For her part, Geamala said that “abuse often starts when the elderly have dementia and roam around places. Let us not keep this a private thing. Instead, each barangay official has to report and respond to cases of older persons being abused.”