Manila: A carpenter was recently arrested by police in Central Philippines’ Negros Occidental for smearing chilli paste on his wife’s private part.
According to a report by the Remate tabloid, the 34-year-old man from the town of Magalona had wanted to teach his wife, 22, a lesson for not coming home for the night — thus he smeared the searing and pungent paste on her genitals.
It was not known if the woman had suffered serious injuries from the incident, but she reported the matter to the Women and Children’s Protection Desk of the Philippine National Police, who opened a case under the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children (Republic Act 9262) against her husband.
The carpenter was arrested for spouse abuse and faces the possibility of being ordered to pay anywhere between P5,000 (Dhs 421) to P50,000 (Dhs 4,216) to his wife, as well being jailed for up to six years.
The report narrated that the woman was about to take a bath at their house after spending the night in another place when her husband suddenly barged into the bathroom and smeared crushed chilli on her genitals.
Explaining to the police, the husband said she had just wanted to discipline his wife.
The couple’s relationship had been under a lot of strain lately, according to report. The wife had wanted to work so that she could have earnings of her own to supplement her husband’s. They have three children.
A former colony of Spain for more than three centuries, the once a predominantly feudal Philippines is shedding the vestiges of a patriarchal society and is fast embracing modernity through laws recognising the rights of women and children.
In 2004, the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children was passed giving the female gender a weapon to fight spouse abuse.
