Vigil held to end domestic violence

Community members led by the Family Violence Task Force expressed in various art forms Friday night the ugly facets of domestic violence during a candlelight vigil held in honor of victims of family abuse.

Grace Christian Academy students, in a remarkable performance, presented a skit that showed family violence from the perspective of household furniture, as constant witnesses to abuses that occur in the homes.

“If only furnitures could talk. . .,” cried the characters who were guised as sofa, cabinet, clock, telephone, television set, and radio, among others.

The children performed behind the backdrop of colorful, paper-cut dolls that represented about half of domestic violence victims in the Commonwealth.

“Our aim is to see less and less of the victims pasted in this wall in the years ahead,” said Garapan Elementary School Principal Juan Babauta, whose school took the initiative to create the paper dolls for Friday’s vigil.

The event, with the theme “Respect and cherish the ones you love,” kicked off in a parade along Garapan which drew over 700 supporters all aiming to seek an end to an escalating rate of domestic violence cases in the community.

According to Family Violence Task Force Program Coordinator Laura Tenorio Flores, 932 domestic violence cases have been filed at the Department of Public Safety since Oct. 20, 1999 up to the same date this year.

“Domestic violence is underreported so this figure is still a misrepresentation of actual cases that really occur,” she explained.

Since its inception, the task force has actively carried out steps to ensure victims of such abuse are protected and cared for through its different programs such as the victim hotline, victim help project at the Commonwealth Health Center, and others.

Ms. Flores, however, pointed out that the task force’s main thrust is to employ more education and awareness campaign on domestic violence in efforts to finally “end the silence.”

“A lot of our programs work with victims, and we just started a pilot program for batterers. But until we start holding batterers accountable and the whole society comes together on this issue, we don’t expect that the numbers are going to decrease,” she said.

Task Force Chair Kevin Lynch, in a speech during the vigil ceremony, also stressed the importance of respect among family members.

“We, concerned citizens and service providers in the CNMI, join together in the commitment to promote peace in our families by ending the silence,” he said.

He added that the task force’s mission is to impact all areas in the community, which contribute to the perpetuation of violence in the islands and to work for the eradication of family violence and restoration of dignity for all, especially families affected by violence.