Prophetic words of priest blocked in the Philippine Senate

By The Advocate

28 November 2016

*In response to the false accusations of Senator Richard Gordon
*Father Shay Cullen a Judas Escariot (sic) -Senator Gordon.
*Senator Gordon blocks freedom of speech of Senator Hontiveros
*Father Cullen refutes allegations of Senator Gordon
*Prophetic words of priest blocked in the Senate.

During a Senate deliberation on the 2017 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) last November 16th Senator Risa Hontiveros was stopped from reading a newspaper column written by Father Shay Cullen depicting the awful conditions in detention centers in the Philippines and how the children must be helped. When Senator Richard Gordon heard the name of Father Cullen he reacted and angrily he interrupted Senator Hontiveros and ordered her to stop reading the column. It should not be heard on the Senate floor, he said, otherwise if she insisted on reading it, he, Gordon, would filibuster her presentation.

The highly respected Senator Hontiveros was quoting a column of Father Shay Cullen, writer, journalist and founder of the Preda Foundation in Olongapo City in 1974.The Preda (People’s Recovery Empowerment Development Assistance Foundation) is an organization protecting vulnerable and abused children and victims of human trafficking. His widely read column is published every Sunday in The Manila Times and other international newspapers and online www.preda.org where an average of 1,500 people visit daily. The particular column from which Senator Hontiveros quoted listed the terrible conditions suffered by the children in the local government detention centers in Metro Manila and elsewhere.

“I don’t normally intervene when somebody is questioning here, but I will, because we’ve all had enough of this man who pretends to be a priest, but in reality he is like Judas Escariot (sic). I am taken aback. If you’re gonna use him, I don’t think we should even listen to this,” Gordon, the former mayor of Olongapo City said to Hontiveros.

Gordon, using his privileged speech, effectively denied Senator Hontiveros her constitutional right of freedom of speech by using his position as a senator and refused to have his remarks against Father Shay Cullen stricken from the Senate record.

Father Cullen, a human rights advocate, described in his column some of the local government detention centers that are sub-human where the children are crowded into cells behind steel bars like criminals. Children as young as eight years old are mixed in with boys as old as 17. Sexual and physical abuse abounds and the children are underfed and suffer scabies and other health conditions. They are deprived of their rights to education, exercise, sunlight, humane living conditions and other human needs. Their parents are not found and many are abandoned.

The concern of Senator Hontiveros for the children was apparent but Senator Richard Gordon, the former mayor of Olongapo City, did not share it. He interrupted to tell Senator Hontiveros to stop reading and citing the column of Father Shay Cullen. He actually censored Senator Hontiveros.

Senator Gordon sees Father Shay Cullen, a Missionary of the Society of Saint Columban, as a long time critic from the days when the Gordon family dynasty ruled Olongapo City. Father Cullen came to Olongapo City in 1969, served in the parishes and established the Preda Foundation in 1974. Its goal was and is to save youth from death squads in the city at that time and to meet the needs of the youth and sexually exploited and trafficked children in the rampant sex industry.

The Olongapo City sex industry, comprising of hundreds of sex bars and clubs was the only economy provided under the Gordon dynasty that ruled the city for almost fifty years. Olongapo City hosted the US Naval Base on Subic Bay until 1992.

Thousands of people have been helped by the Preda Foundation but Gordon and Father Cullen clashed in 1982 when Preda social workers and Father Cullen uncovered and exposed a secret cover up of a rampant child prostitution ring that preyed on poor vulnerable Filipino children, some as young as nine years old, abused by American servicemen. Father Cullen spoke out and publicized the child abuse and demanded an investigation. The then Mayor Gordon was furious that the sordid sex ring involving young children was brought to light by Father Cullen.

The American serviceman Daniel Dougherty was identified as one of the many pedophiles abusing the Filipino children. Following the expose by Fr Cullen, he was brought to trial in Guam, a US territory. This did not sit well with Gordon who was called to testify and was held responsible for the abuse for hosting and protecting the US military bases and the sex industry. He provided “entertainment with sex” and gave a mayor’s operating permit to the sex bars and clubs where thousands of women and children were abused and exploited daily.

Mayor Gordon denounced Father Cullen and tried to have him deported and the Preda children’s home closed down and taken over by the city. But he failed and considered Father Shay Cullen his critic and enemy. Father Cullen said he forgave Gordon long ago and prays for the senator to see the light of truth.

Father Cullen was asked to comment on the efforts of Senator Richard Gordon to blacken his name and had this to say: “Our mission is to stand for the poor and the exploited children and women and be prophetic in announcing the truth of human rights violations and working to heal and help the victims. Whatever Senator Gordon says, it cannot be believed. He is a politician and will reject criticism of wrongdoing. For me, this work is the duty and mission of every one- to speak the truth, oppose evil and fight for justice.”

However Senator Gordon apparently has not forgotten Father Cullen especially when the latter called for the removal and replacement of the US bases with economic zones to provide jobs with dignity and replace the sex business for sailors despite vitriolic opposition by the then Mayor Gordon.

After the fall of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the anti-bases coalition of which Preda Foundation is an active member, won out and the Philippine Senate voted to remove the bases.

The economic zones campaigned for by the coalition became a reality. This is a big historic victory for the anti-bases coalition and Preda Foundation and a success today as Olongapo is a boom city without the US bases and the Gordon dynasty. Faced with an ignominious defeat, the then Mayor Gordon changed his position and claimed credit for the removal of the US Naval Base and told the media that the establishment of the economic zone was his idea all along.

This is the background as to why Senator Gordon spoke to stop Senator Hontiveros from citing the weekly column of Father Cullen last November. Gordon said in the Senate hearing that Father Cullen has a dubious reputation and spread lies all over Europe.

The record shows that Father Shay Cullen is a well-known and well-received public human rights campaigner and international speaker and media commentator. He has been awarded numerous human rights awards and nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. He has been invited twice to give testimony before the US Congressional Committee on Human Rights and in the German Bundestag.

During the Senate deliberation in November, Senator Hontiveros motioned that Gordon’s attacks against Father Cullen be removed from the record. Gordon then warned Hontiveros that if she insists on doing so, he would delay the proceedings.

"If you want to take it out for the record, I'm willing to filibuster here if you continue to do this," Gordon said.

The committee allowed Gordon’s remarks against Father Cullen to remain on the record much to Gordon’s shame.

Gordon has long been outspoken against Father Cullen and his mission. On his official Facebook page, Senator Gordon describes Father Cullen as “a Caucasian who believed he had his own white man’s burden of saving the poor Filipinos. . .” He accused Father Cullen of combating child abuse and drug trafficking but ignoring the plight of the victims.

However, to be fair, Father Cullen and the Preda workers campaign daily for the rights of the victims and the Preda Foundation has established two beautiful therapeutic homes in Zambales for their protection, safety and recovery.

He also accused Father Cullen of exposing the plight of Rosario Baluyot and "nearly jeopardized” the case against her abuser. Rosario Baluyot was a street child sexually abused by a sex tourist and died in Olongapo City. Father Cullen campaigned for justice for Rosario and prevented a citywide cover up of the crime. The case against the Austrian suspect was held in Olongapo City and he was convicted. Later, on appeal, it was dismissed. Father Cullen did important work to win a conviction.

According to Father Cullen, Senator Gordon has made false and libelous allegations against him. He explained that there never was any investigation by the DSWD or church authorities of Gordon’s accusations of abuse at the Preda Center.

“The allegations have been dismissed totally as baseless and manufactured and they were designed to harass and persecute me in retaliation for my work in defending children’s rights and exposing crimes against children,” he said.

“Mayor Gordon has tried and failed to destroy my reputation. I tried to stand for the child victims who were raped in the city that sponsored the sex business and I opposed the US military bases because they were the root cause of it and I promoted conversion of the facilities to a Filipino economic zone to give alternative jobs, what’s wrong in that?”

The charge of libel against Father Cullen in 1999 by then Davao City Mayor Benjamin de Guzman cited by Gordon on his official Facebook page was the campaign of Father Cullen against the Davao death squads. He risked his life to protect the street children. The Davao court dismissed the charges of libel when the mayor withdrew his baseless complaint.

“It is fair to say that the abuse of the Senator’s privilege speech to damage and destroy the reputation of those who question the social and economic problems of the country is deplorable,” Father Cullen said. “It diminishes the senators themselves and causes the people to loose faith in the institutions that are supposed to uphold the highest standards of human behavior and respect for the rights and dignity of everyone. This is what Senator Gordon has failed to do.”

The Most Important in the Kingdom

Recently I was talking to a group of forty young boys who had been taken out of filthy jails and sub-human conditions in the so-called youth detention centers of Metro Manila. I told them, "You are the children of God and the most important in God's family. That's why you are here, you are free and have rights and dignity".

They stared wide-eyed with incredulous looks of awe and bafflement. Jason, ten years old, jumped up, spread out his arms and began to spin around in a playful demonstration of "being free." Everyone laughed and enjoyed the moment.

The boys between 9 and 16 are living happily in a beautiful home in the countryside and finding and experiencing their basic rights and joys that we, who have never suffered an injustice or been in conflict with the law or lost our freedom, take for granted and so hardly ever cherish and celebrate. You may never value it until it is taken away.

A large majority of the boys at the Preda Foundation's New Dawn Home for Boys in conflict with the law are not convicted and not on trial. They are sent to get treatment and therapy and help for troubled lives. They are free to run wherever they want in the grounds. There are no guards, steel bars, wire cages and brutal treatment which they experienced in the jails and youth detention and so-called reformatory centers where they were locked up like animals without light, exercise, education or entertainment, affirmation or legal process.

It is the first time for them to experience such rights and respect and for them it is an amazing wonder. The Preda staff and I tell them the truth about themselves- "You are good, you have rights and dignity, you have had a hard life and made mistakes under the bad influence of adults but you can choose now to live another positive way".

They listen with wide-eyed wonder and can scarcely believe this good news since they have hardly ever experienced being loved, wanted, valued, supported, fed and cherished. Instead they have been rejected all their lives and told they are a burden and pest to their family and society and deserve punishment and imprisonment. They might as well have been on death row.

Now at Preda this bad experience and negative conditioning is being turned on its head. Now they are told- "You are free here at the Preda New Dawn Home for Boy to stay or leave. Know that you are of importance, value and are good in yourselves. Do not believe or think of yourselves a bad, criminal or useless young people. You are God's children and the most important in God's family, Jesus said so".

Hearing and knowing this good news, each one, free of fear, reprimand and punishment they can develop self-awareness, self-consciousness and begin to grow as persons. It is a vital part of being fully human and something they hardly ever experienced. They feel respected and valued and can have a dream to reach a positive goal. They are assured that they will be helped to achieve a better, happier life for themselves and their future families when they grow up. What attitudes they have today will be how they will treat others in the future. They must learn and grow for the better.

It takes time for all this to sink in, so conditioned are these 9 to 16 year-old boys. We have to undo the harm and negativity that has been heaped on them from childhood by parents, relatives and local authorities. They have been branded by parents and society as worthless thieves, drug dependents and social outcasts. But they are not.

Normally good children that are misunderstood and unloved and branded as bad will likely become what they are called. Adults and parents must be careful never to physically, verbally or emotionally abuse children. They will rebel and find ways to retaliate. They feel injustice like everyone else.

At times I challenge parents of troubled, unruly, and drug-taking children how is it that they were born innocent but have become like this? I ask them, "Why do your children take pain killers? Who is causing the pain? How have you treated and spoken to them as they grew up?”.

Inevitably the parents will respond defensively, "It’s not us, he (she) never listens to us, has no discipline, never obeys, steals, takes drugs, seldom goes to school, is a computer games addict, does not come home and prefers to be with the street gangs".

Some parents admit that they voluntarily turned their child over to the detention center. “To teach him/her a lesson," they say. Punishment is no cure for troubled and hurt children. It hurts and alienates them all the more.

To parents like that I usually respond, "How is it then that your son is here at Preda for two months and has never run away, does not steal, not take drugs, is never violent, is helpful, does his duties, attends classes daily and respects the staff and other boys? Perhaps there is a problem in the home? With you he is a wild rebel. Here he is a normal respectful boy. Who needs to change, you or him?” And so the parents have to reflect on their family life and ask if there is a lack of loving parenting.

What inspires and motivates the youth is to know that their parents are willing to cooperate and attend parenting seminars and to accept and admit that they too have mistakes and are willing to reconcile with their child. The hope of family reconciliation and peace-making and acceptance back into the family is what motivates the boy to continue in the Preda home. The loss of love and friendship with parents and family is the greatest hurt and loss. Peacemaking and acceptance is the greatest gift.

The Rescue

The dilapidated house and few small cottages falling apart made up what was called S.C.O.T.S. Foundation for abandoned children. It was set up by Lilian May Thomson, 65, from Dunfermline, Scotland. According to her US passport she is named as Lilian May Zimmer. Her house is in a remote place at the end of a small, narrow valley in Subic, Philippines. It is a place surrounded by forested hills and a small river running nearby. But that outward beauty shielded something very sinister and horrific within.

This beautiful setting was ideal for another Preda children's home and with the sex tourism growing, more children were being abused, trafficked and sexually exploited. While we challenge government, church and society to act more forcefully to end it, the victims have to be helped to heal and recover from the abuse on the streets, in brothels and rescued from child abusers. That's our mission.

While the new Preda Home for Girls was being built about three hundred meters from the SCOTS compound on the other side of the small river, I noticed posh-looking vehicles parked there. I saw non-Filipino elderly men holding and touching children. That bothered me because it is strictly forbidden in any children's home. 

I contacted the government welfare department and learned that the Scots Foundation had been disavowed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). So this place looked like a failed project or a fake one. 

The new children's home was built and the Preda children moved in earlier this year. The Preda children are always singing and laughing and playing games and running about. On June 1st, as I arrived to visit and celebrate the mass, I saw three little children at the entrance, one girl was completely naked, the others were skinny and semi-naked. They had been attracted to the Preda home by the singing because they were hungry. After they had eaten and clothed, they said they were from Scots Foundation. 

I was alarmed and instructed a Preda social worker to bring them back there and see the conditions and why they are disheveled and malnourished. Had we kept them at the Preda home without official approval, we could have been charged with kidnapping as happened to us once before when we rescued children. The Preda Foundation being a private charity does not have the authority to rescue children without the government authorities being present. 

The social worker reported that it was a house in disarray, the place was dirty, and smelt bad. Zimmer was smoking, unwashed and she appeared drunk. A 7 year-old was caring for a naked 6 month old baby of mixed race, Korean-Filipino. Another girl, about 6, was tied in a chair with plastic binders. She was having epilepsy seizures. 

The Preda social worker informed me of this situation and immediately I wrote a report and informed the DSWD director by email and courier. I requested the children be rescued immediately as they were in dire and dangerous circumstances. 

After a delay of two weeks, no rescue team arrived and I sent another social worker to see the condition of the children. It was worse. The children were dirty, crying, undressed, hungry, one was still tied to the chair. Zimmer was smoking non-stop and appeared drunk.

I called again for the officials to rescue them and then two government social workers and 7 police from Subic town went to Zimmer's house to rescue the children. They were prevented from entering the house and allegedly Zimmer hurled invective at them and threatened to kill them if they entered. Fearing that she might have a gun, they withdrew without rescuing the children. 

After this Zimmer went to the Preda home at night shouting and cursing at Preda social workers and blaming Preda for calling the police. She allegedly grabbed one of the Preda social workers and pulled her the length of the building and uttered threats and bad word against the children.

I continued making more requests and phone calls to the authorities. Then eventually, one month later, on 3 July, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officers and two DSWD social workers went to Scots Foundation to rescue the children. 

Again, Zimmer confronted them and gave off foul language and picked up a spear and threw it at the social workers, it grazed one of them. The NBI agents overcame their fears and sprang into action before Zimmer could throw the second spear. 

They restrained and handcuffed her and brought her to the NBI jail and booked her. The next day, Zimmer was brought to the office of the prosecutor in Olongapo city and a lawyer was appointed to represent her. A Preda social worker was there also. 

The female prosecutor heard all the evidence, the fearsome spears were presented as evidence of the attack on the officials. Two male foreigners showed up, friends of Zimmer but when they heard that probable cause was established by the prosecutor, they left immediately. Zimmer was presented before the court at 7 pm that same night and remanded to the city jail. Kudos for the judge.

The children were taken into care in a private child care center. One child said when there was electricity in the house of Zimmer, they were before a camera naked. Another 7 year-old girl child said she was groomed with make up and a party dress and brought to a party of adults. It has since been established by medical examination the three girls ages about 6 or 7 have been severely sexually abused.

The children are being given full support and comfort, good food and clothes and are eager to tell all that happened to them. More has yet to be revealed... (to be continued) 

The Injustice that Leads to Violence

The massacre of 20 elementary school children and six teachers at the Sandy Hook school in Connecticut on 14 December  2012  continues to mystify psychologists and social workers, they and most people cannot explain what drove the killer to such wanton violence. He killed his mother some hours earlier that day and as police closed in on him he shot himself dead inside the school. His father said recently in an interview he wished his son had never been born.

    

What is it that brings out such horrific violence  against innocent children perhaps anger at the injustice of being rejected unwanted and unloved. Was 20 year old  Adam Lanza  sexually abused as a child by unknown paedophiles.? Who can say? But one thing is certain rejected and abused children that suffer injustice can easily have a grudge and an abiding anger that can burst out in acts of violence as they grow to adulthood. The pain lingers and festers through childhood and can turn to hate and acts of revenge against perceived tormentors.

The lingering pain is the the  reality for the Filipino children that seek shelter ,peace and therapy at Preda Center in Olongapo City. They want to be healed from the  hurt and pain of  being  abused and raped. The effects of  the traumatic experience of rape and abuse they carry with them is deep anger and resentment  at the grave injustice done to them. They being young (some  3 to 16 years old ) they are weak, powerless and needing protection from  their abuser who in most cases is their own father, brother relatives, or the live-in partner of their mother, a paedophile .The child victims are distressed,depressed and even suicidal.

    

Some are abused in child care centers like that recent expose and arrest of an American donor and his three mangers of the Sankey Samaritan orphanage home in Lucena City. Which was a fake orphanage as discovered by the DSWD and the testimonies of the victims to the NBI revealed that it was a house of sexual abuse. What is more shocking is the  fact that the the accused foreigner went free and the alleged rapists got bail and can intimidate the victims.

Victims of sexual abuse so betrayed by rapists and the justice system can carry a deep sense of distrust and buried anger and even hatred of adults. It is a challenging task for the Preda therapists and social workers to befriend and reassure them that they can trust a human being again. They have suffered the worst betrayal possible to a human person. They bury the memory of that terrible crime committed against them in their hearts and souls, in their body and their minds.

They live in fear of the adult world. Some victims and survivors carry the pain and fear all their lives. Their abuser has threatened them and the members of their family. They cannot speak, silence is the only world they know. This fear and sense of abandonment by the adults who should be there to protect and help them have told them that they are worthless human beings and even blame them for seducing their abuser.

They are told that they had it coming. Their destruction as a person is complete, none, but a few, can ever live a normal life again and we should not be surprised  that some might grow into disoriented adults.

What is even worse is that few people believe or listen to them and the plight. There is no justice for them. This is the worst pain they can suffer. This can drive some victims to acts of violent revenge. Others are so damaged that a loving relationship and marriage is almost impossible. Violence and abuse and a broken family can be the likely outcome for many. When they seek justice their complaint is frequently left for months even years without action by the prosecutor. Then it is dismissed and the  sex abusers or traffickers go free with impunity.

In 2010 two Australians , Peter Nemes and Frances George Wood were charged before the  Regional Trail Court, Branch  26 in Laguna court with the rape of a 7 year old child, the evidence was strong and no bail should have been allowed yet the prosecutors recommended it and the judge complied. It was deemed legal but was it morally right?  Of course the accused disappeared back to Australia and arrest warrants were issued but never served despite the appeals and requests of the parents, For the damaged and abused child justice was defeated ,denied and the child betrayed.

There are most likely thousands of betrayals of justice for children and women in recent decades. Judgements that favor the child rapists and denies justice to the rape victims blackens the name of Philippine justice. The injustice has to be opposed  protested, spoken and written and broadcast about. The cries of the victims and the truth of their betrayal must be spread around the social media and the public must demand the  prosecutors and judges be brought to justice themselves.  Only when we break down the wall fear and silence will the truth be revealed. Don't be afraid, speak out. 

The Great Pain of Justice Denied

Perhaps there is no greater emotional pain a person can suffer than being severely wronged, hurt, and then denied justice. The pain is all the greater when the evidence is strong and clear and after years of struggle and perseverance, the guilty are declared innocent. The pain of defeat and denial of justice is intensified for the rest of the victim's life.

Shelly was only 11 years old when her own father raped her, almost every day when her mother left the house to run their hardware business. Shelly was frequently sick, and was sexually abused by her father; soon she was a traumatized wreck of a child. She dropped out of school, and was threatened. "I will kill you and your mother and burn the house down if you tell anyone" was his worst threat.

When Shelly got really sick her mother brought her to the hospital. There the observant female doctor saw the signs of physical and psychological abuse. The bruise marks on her arms when he held and shook her, the fear in her eyes when she was asked if anyone had hurt her in her private parts. Then in the privacy of the surgery, Shelly whispered what she had hidden for months. The good doctor conducted a series of blood tests and genital examinations.

The forensic evidence revealed the shocking truth. Shelly was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease and had multiple genital abrasions. Her mother would not believe her or the doctor. She was in denial and said Shelly was lying. The doctor called the police and social worker and they brought her to the Preda Home for abused children where she was safe. The child's complaint was filed with the prosecutor who tried to dismiss it but after perseverance and protests it was filed in court by the Preda paralegal team.

Inexplicably, the judge granted bail for what is a non-bailable offense. The prosecutor went along with it and made no protest. It meant the abuser was free and a threat and Shelly could not go home. It took four years of court hearings with countless postponements and delays and Shelly was still determined to testify.

She had healing therapy and new friends in the safe and secure Preda Home for abused children. She was going to school daily and feeling the affirmation, support and care of the Preda staff. She had healed and grew strong in mind and heart. She now had self-confidence and gave clear detailed testimony in court and stood strong under cross examination. The big day came, pronouncement of guilty or not. The evidence was incontestable, the medical forensic evidence, her own brave testimony and the testimony of the doctor and the psychologist. Then the decision was read out - the accused is found NOT guilty!! He walked away free, gloating and smiling. “Money talks, the accused walks”, they say here.

We were dumfounded and Shelly cried long into the night. A bitter blow indeed, that's the root of social problems and poverty in the Philippines, a flawed judicial system where the Chief Justice is on trial .What hope is there for the little children? It took months to cope but Shelly did and went to live with a supportive auntie. She enrolled in college with the help of a Preda scholarship and graduated cum laude. Today, Shelly is a psychologist helping other children like her at the Preda Home for Children.

Shelly is just one of hundreds of thousands who are denied justice all over the Philippines and the world because of corrupt prosecutors and judges. At Preda, the paralegal team is fighting 43 cases in court on behalf of abused children, most of them victims of sexual abuse done by their own biological fathers or the live-in partners of their mothers. There are 18 more cases filed by Preda with the prosecutors and no resolution. That's where bribery is the biggest threat. There are 11 more cases pending in court, yet no hearings set. Out of a total of 62 cases seeking justice, no justice yet. Seven cases like that of Shelly's have been dismissed and only two convictions have been won after years of hard work. The brave children are denied the closure that true justice brings. Perhaps not only the Chief Justice ought to be on trial, but the judiciary itself for its failure to deliver

How Many Sex Tourists, How Many Victims?

The recent Philippine Tourism Congress avoided a hot subject - sex tourism. This is the scourge that is causing endless abuse and exploitation of women and children. It is also destroying the moral and family values of this country and damaging the name of Philippine tourism. Some Philippine officials have hotly disputed a statistic mentioned by the US Ambassador, Harry K. Thomas, Jr. that 40% of the tourists coming to the Philippines are sex tourists. The Philippine officials raising a storm, are embarrassed that the ugly shameful truth has come out.

The exact figure may never be known, but can anyone prove 40% is not true? And is any percentage acceptable? The evidence is clear, the sex bars and clubs are filled with foreign customers and thousands of young women and even minors are for sale. The Ambassador, to end the controversy over his remark, said he regrets it, but he should not, it highlights a shocking reality - the truth of widespread sex tourism.

When it comes to such blatant crimes against women and children, denial, silence and indifference is a form of consent and is unacceptable. Church and State have to speak out and act more decisively to end this destructive industry that is widely tolerated. It is the major cause of the trafficking of persons in the Philippines. "Our faith is dead" says St. James, "when there is no action for the needy"(2 James Ch.2.vs 14-26).

The Preda Foundation gives free legal assistance and shelter to victims of sex trafficking. The case of two daughters, 12 and 14 years old, trafficked and sold as sex slaves by her parents to two foreign sex tourists at an Olongapo beach got no justice. Despite strong evidence of guilt, the case was dismissed on technicality. In another case, two children were made sex slaves at ten and eleven years old for four years by two American sex tourists in Olongapo City. They got no justice either and one has been abducted. The two child abusers, a father and son from California, went free and escaped when the law enforcers failed to present the evidence.

The sex tourists lie, bribe and go free. They are the big spenders and coddled by authority. Sex tourism, ignored by officialdom, is the scourge that spreads HIV-AIDS, moral depravity, child abuse, incest, abortion, woman abuse and corruption throughout Filipino society. Many victims fill the children's refuge centers seeking help, crying for justice. Thousands more victims are left to suffer. The sex industry is damaging the good name of the nation.

The US Ambassador was making an important speech appealing to judges to give more basic justice for the trafficked, exploited and oppressed women and children. The lack of justice in the Philippines is like people without food, it can drive many to violence. It has kept this nation at war with itself and has fostered an insurgency that can only end when corruption ends and justice is done speedily, fairly and with integrity. Then peace will reign.

What percentage of sex tourists can be tolerated, if not 40% of all arrivals? 10% of 3.5 million tourists is ok? For me and many more people of conscience who respect the dignity of women and children, even one act of rape, child abuse and sexual exploitation is one too many.

The estimated number of children alone trafficked or lured into the sex trade is said to be between 60,000 to 100,000 children, a statistic that most non-government agencies and UNICEF stand by. The number of women trafficked could be ten times that. In the Olongapo area, a research project learned that 5000 women are working in the sex trade in that city and nearby Subic Town.

In its July 2011 edition, The Reader's Digest, known for its meticulous research, shows a chart of human trafficking world wide and says that 500,000 Filipino women and children are trafficked to the United States and other nations every year. So how many more victims are trafficked internally from the poor regions of the Philippines to the cities and sex tourist resorts? Visit the bars and many thousands will be found.

These bars and clubs are managed by foreigners, and they offer the victims for sale in modern slavery auctions operated with a Mayor’s license and permit proudly displayed. Is this government approval? The sex tourism and the bars are a blight on the nation and must be closed down. Instead, human rights must be respected and work with dignity and fair wages must replace them.