The House leadership on Thursday agreed to create a Special House Committee on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Children even as they made a strong commitment to stamp out all forms of violence against them.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said his suggestion for the creation of the new House panel was positively accepted by Speaker Prospero Nograles who will form the committee when session resumes next month.

Lagman, who is also Deputy Secretary-General of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians for Population and Development (AFPPD), spoke before the AFPPD-sponsored Asia-Pacific Parliamentarian’s Meeting on Engaging Men in Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls in Bangkok, Thailand where he aired the Philippines action to protect women and children.

Ten countries from the Asia-Pacific Region are members of the AFPPD Standing Committee on Male Involvement in the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls which was created during the Bangkok conference. Lagman represents the Philippines in the committee.

In a speech delivered during the Bangkok conference, Lagman emphasized that violence against women cuts across social and economic classes and is alarmingly widespread even with relevant laws in place. “This crime has untold negative costs not only to the woman but to society as a whole. It cripples the spirit of countless victims even as it mutilates the fabric that holds together families and communities,” he said.

More recently, during the 5th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights in Beijing, China, Lagman urged his fellow parliamentarians to enact laws that will genuinely uplift the status of women and girls and ensure that they will no longer be victims of gender-based violence.

Lagman stated that even if men are principal perpetrators of violence against women, “those who have the potential to commit the most harm also have the potential to create the most good.”