FIRST, it was the children — a 3-year-old boy marked with bruises and signs of abuse, then the 8-year-old whom he began to slap and kick and beat. Then Lily, the 35-year-old mother with five children, could not take it anymore. She and the children had endured anger, shouting and cursing, and emotional and physical violence for so long from her live-in partner that finally she took a stand and spoke out and got protection from his violent attacks. Most victims of such violence never report it to authorities. Lily was once an intimidated and frightened woman who took the beating herself and endured his violence, then decided to change her world and fight back legally if the prosecutor will agree with her complaint.

Maria, 13 years old, was violently raped by her father, but she and her mother stood together and fought back. And with the help of the Preda Center, Maria was empowered and with support of her mother and Preda filed charges against her father, and she has strongly and clearly testified. He is facing four counts of rape and will likely be convicted. In the Philippines, women legislators worked hard and lobbied for the passage of a new law in 2022 making the age of sexual consent 16 (up from 12) and now sexual intercourse with a child below 16 will be statutory rape. Recently, female child victims of sexual violence, assisted by Preda, won four convictions in the past two months against a trafficker and child abusers. Three were sentenced to life in prison and one got 12 years. The Preda children who fight back for justice win an average of 15 to 16 convictions of their abusers every year, a strong message that such crimes will not be tolerated.

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