Kat Alano Encourages Rape Victims To Speak Up, Shares Her Own Story

Former MTV VJ host Kat Alano faced CNN Philippines’ Legal HD brave and firm as she encouraged raped victims to be strong too and even shared why she decided to speak up about her case.

Untitled(Alano talked about rape culture in the Philippines, urged change)

Alano detailed her horrible experience 10 years ago—her own rape, saying her “own guilt” for not speaking up for so long had haunted her thus she felt the need.

Alano also said that she only had the courage to speak up about her case last year when another rape controversy came out. “At the beginning I only came out about rape culture after another girl came out and was an alleged victim of the same man who raped me,” she said.

Alano detailed that she was just 19 years old that time and came drinking with friends when a guy he met from work insisted to drive her home using her car. At the end of declining many times, Alano said she was finally obliged.

Only then she noticed that there is something wrong happening when she started to feel like she was in a “fog”, not knowing she was drugged that time.

According to the Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Center, there were about 5, 493 rape cases recorded in 2013. Most sexual assault victims are students often caused though the use of liquid ecstasy mixed in beverages.

Alano in the same end was one. Just this week, alleged drug makers of liquid ecstasy were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation.

According to Alano, when she exposed her rape case it did not end well and having been into public scrutiny was not that easy where she also bashed in social media, attacked online and even blacklisted in the industry.

The rape culture, Alano said, blames the victim. Alano also pointed out the mentality of the Filipinos toward rape and sex education as key roles to make way for the rape victims to be heard and accepted. But she encouraged victims not to be afraid anymore nor feel ashamed leaving a line, “Now is the time to join voices and be heard as a collective because that’s the only way that we can prove to the whole world and not just in our nation that rape really exists, that we are the faces of rape and this is what happens to you. And this is what has happened to us.”

According to WCC, there are more cases that remained unreported.

H/T: CNN Philippines

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