Fewer victims going to all-girls center in Davao this year

Balay Dangupan holds Family Day with its residents and their families on October 22, 2025. Photo from the Facebook page of CSWDO-Davao

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / November 13) – The number of abused girls seeking assistance at the Balay Dangupan of the Crisis Intervention Center has dropped compared to last year, an official at the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) said.

In an interview with MindaNews Thursday at the city hall, center overseer Rizza Grace Naive said there were months this year that only one girl was admitted.

Last year, the center recorded three to four admissions per month, she said.

The all-girls center provides psychosocial intervention and basic necessities to victims of physical and sexual abuse. It currently has 48 “residents,” mostly victims of sexual abuse, Naive said during the iSpeak forum prior to the interview.

The residents may continue to stay in the shelter even after its social workers have assessed that they have “improved” and it is safe for them to go home to their families or relatives away from their perpetrators.

Naive said a resident will not be sent home as much as possible while the litigation of her case is still ongoing.

The cases against the suspects in the girls’ cases have been raffled among the courts and the litigation will start soon, she said. 

Since its establishment in 1994, the center has catered to over 500 young girls, with a three-year-old victim as the youngest on record.

Naive urged the public to report victims of abuse to their nearest district office. She said the CSWDO has 15 district offices. (Razl EJ Teman/MindaNews)