QUEZON City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Tuesday proposed the use of the city government’s gender and development or GAD fund to put more women and children’s help desks in the city’s 142 barangays.

According to Belmonte, daughter of former mayor and now Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., the city’s 2018 budget is P19 billion, of which five percent or roughly P950 million goes to GAD projects and programs.

Belmonte said there is a need to intensify programs to protect the rights of every women-constituents against all forms of crimes and abuses.

She cited a recent study done by the Social Weather Stations showing women were most vulnerable to sexual harassment, especially in public places.

“There is an issue that maybe we can use the GAD budget for these things, or for example, in giving a seed capital to women who wish to start up [a business],” the vice mayor added.

She said Quezon City, Metro Manila’s biggest locality with a population of over three million, three out of five women were sexually harassed at least once in their lifetime.

“With more women and children’s protection desks in every barangay, in addition to those at the police stations, we can address the vulnerabilities of women,” Belmonte pointed out.

Under the GAD budget policy, all government offices, local government units, and state universities and colleges are enjoined to utilize at least 5 percent of their budget for programs that promote gender equality.