Hailed as Mrs. Philippines Asia-Pacific Cosmopolitan 2019
SENIOR POLICE Officer 1 Mary Chris Camacho is a battered wife.
As she starts to consider her own welfare and safety, the 40-year-old police officer decides to leave her husband and singlehandedly raises their two sons.
After defying and surviving the domestic abuses, Camacho never looked back.
“My personal experience pushed me to assert my right as a woman of worth and that only then abuse and violence in the homes will end,” she said.
The police officer used her painful experience as a platform for her women’s rights advocacy when she represented Tacloban City during the recently-concluded Mrs. Philippines Asia 2019 in Manila.
Standing five feet and five inches tall, this feisty yet tender mother and police officer becomes the first married woman of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to join a national beauty pageant.
She brought the crown.
Having won the title of Mrs. Philippines Asia-Pacific Cosmopolitan 2019 on February 3, Camacho now serves as an inspiration to other women to rise above the various abuses in the society.
“Battered wives should never be afraid. We have Republic Act 9262 or Anti-Violence against Women and Children to fight abusive partners. We should pursue this,” Camacho, who entered the police force in 2005, said.
Despite being separated from her husband, Camacho finds the courage to pursue her role as a parent and police officer in her own way.
Her eldest son graduated in Information Technology while the other is soon to finish his degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management.
Camacho, who hails from Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur, said that women should be aware of their rights.
“We need to inform and disseminate to the people about this law, promoting the welfare of women from all walks of life,” she adds.
Formerly assigned at PNP-Crame based as a liaison officer for four years, Camacho is currently assigned at the logistics division of the Police Regional Office, Camp Ruperto Kangleon in Palo, Leyte.
Police Regional Director Dionardo Carlos said that the men and women in the regional police force “are one with the world in celebrating the International Women’s Month and International Women’s Day.”
“In this modern age, we respect and support every woman’s rights, aspirations, and battles toward gender equality, empowerment, decision-making and nation-building,” he said.
“Women are the epitome of change. They are the special species created by God as equal of man in all aspects, partners in all worthy endeavors,” the police regional director, as he lauded Camacho for successfully defying the odds.
Women law enforcers in Eastern Visayas are only 1,420 of the over 9,000 police force, but for Camacho, she believes that women are capable to fulfill what they want to achieve in life, may it be in the workplace or at home.
(RONALD O. REYES)
