Former Sexbomb dancer Sugar Mercado on Wednesday condemned violence and abuse against women and children, saying that these acts should “never be normal.”
A victim of domestic violence herself, the 29-year-old entertainer turned emotional as she shared her harrowing ordeal and urged other women to stand up for their welfare.
“’Yung naging karanasan ko po, kailangan lang ng tibay ng loob. Hindi po normal na inaabuso tayo ng kahit sinong tao, kahit po…tulad ng naranasan ko, ‘yung napangasawa ko. Hindi po normal na sinasaktan tayo, binababoy,” Mercado told about a hundred women during the National Day of Consciousness for the Elimination of Violence against Women held at Bonifcacio Shrine in the capital city of Manila.
(After what I have experienced, I think we need to have a strong will. To be abused by anyone is never normal, in my case… [I was abused ] by my husband. It’s never normal that we should be hurt or subjected to perverse acts.)
“Labanan natin ang abuso! Laban lang! (Let us fight abuse against women! Let us keep on fighting!)” she added.
Mercado teared up when she thanked Gabriela Women’s Party which helped her after she filed a domestic violence case against her husband.
READ: Ex-Sexbomb dancer files civil, criminal cases vs husband
The former Sexbomb dancer sought for a court protection order earlier this month against her husband Kristoffer Jay Go and his parents “due to repeated emotional and physical abuse.”
She claimed that Go “inflicted repeated emotional and physical abuse on her, sometimes with the direct and indirect involvement of Go’s parents since 2010.”
Mercado also sought custody of her children. AJH