3. Prevalence of VAW While there are claims that cases of VAW are rampant and are increasing, the participants could not provide an estimate of the number of VAW cases within their areas. This is either because they do not keep track of the number of incidents, or there are no deliberate efforts to keep records of the cases in their barangay, or most of the cases are unreported or undocumented. With the exception of Regions 1, 7, and 11, the Regions reported that they cannot ascertain the number of VAW cases within their communities. Failure / Refusal to report abuse. Aside from the limited awareness of VAWC laws, remedies, and services available to women as mentioned above, one reason cited for the lack of information on the prevalence of VAW is women’s hesitance or refusal to report abuse. In CAR for instance, it was shared that women victims of abuse tend to keep their sufferings to themselves for the following reasons:  Desire to keep the family intact: Women want to keep the family intact notwithstanding the fact that they suffer violence or abuse inside their homes. These abuses may be physical, psychological, emotional, or economic. The main perpetrator of these abuses is their husband or partner. With this kind of culture, women tend to keep their sufferings to themselves and pretend that it will not happen again. Moreover, these abused women let the abuse pass and get used to it. They always thought that it was their fault why they are abused. This is evident on the perception of men seeing women as naggers. Also, women are fearful of how powerful or dominant their perpetrators are and how such experience affects their children emotionally and psychologically. In Region 8, some VAW cases are undocumented due to the fact that victims refuse to report the incident for various reasons like fear, anxiety, but mostly due to the high regard for the family and its unity. In addition, it was observed that victims hesitate to report cases due to lack of witnesses and evidence to support the complaint. Similarly, in Regions 5 and 9, among the factors that hinder women from reporting the cases include fear of family ridicule or the shame of bringing scandal to the family. 52