International Day of the Girl

There are thousands of young girls taking a stand against the violence and abuse that they have endured. It’s inspiring to know that the age of total docility and subservience, child abuse and sex slavery is being challenged and changed. The curtain of silence has been torn, the light of truth has poured into the dark abyss of child sexual abuse and much has been revealed and challenged. Yet more must be done to stop it and curtail the insatiable lust for child sex. Too many people yet consider children available targets for their pleasure, control and abuse.

 

In our experience, children are sexually abused by relatives, brothers, fathers, cousins and live-in partners of their mothers and local pedophiles. Yet, girls are fighting back given the chance. Many are finding the courage and resilience to speak out and report abuse and challenge their rapists and abusers. They must be listened to and given protection, therapy and help. Then, they can take the witness stand in court and tell their story with courage and bravery.

 

Hundreds are winning convictions. In 2018, with the help of the Preda Foundation, the children won 18 convictions. In 2019, they won 20 convictions and in 2020 so far 10 children won convictions. Almost all the rapists got life sentences. We can win the fight against child rape and abuse. The judges in family courts today are mostly female and many believe the child victim when it is the girl’s word against her accused assailant. Provided that her testimony is clear, coherent, direct and credible and withstands the cross examination of the defense counsel, then she is believed and wins. We should be all proud of these girls who have fought with courage and won justice. But it is dereliction of duty by officials that all too few children get the support, protection, empowerment to be able to do so.

 

Consider the facts of a five-year study into violence against children. This research, the results of which were released in 2016, was a survey of thousands of Filipino children based on interviews done by the Council for the Welfare of Children supported by Unicef. It found that the “total prevalence of all forms of violence against children is at 80%, with boys at 81.5% and girls, 78.4%; one in three children experiences physical violence, with more than half of them happening at home.” 

 

The victims being healed in the Preda Foundation disclose being physically abused such as being beaten with slippers or sticks, whipped with rattan canes, being kicked, slapped, punched, and sexually abused. They also suffer psychological abuse as they endure cursing, denunciation, rejection, threats of violence, neglect, child labor, denial of food and clothes, education and basic needs.

 

The research discovered that for girls, “one in five children below age 18 have experienced sexual violence while growing up. Common perpetrators of sexual violence are brothers or cousins.” 

 

Thousands of girls are lured and trafficked into the sex industry by human traffickers and are trapped in a cycle of fear, dependence, debt bondage and fear of prosecution and retaliation if they do not submit to sexual exploitation and abuse. Local governments issue licenses and permits for the sex bars and brothels to operate. The sex trade is still thriving despite the Covid-19 and children are still sold as sex-slaves and made dependent on crystal meth, a banned substance. Few traffickers are actually convicted due to weak law enforcement. New laws being readied will raise the age of consent to 16 years from a low of 12 years. This makes any act of sexual abuse by anyone against any child 16 years and below statutory rape that carries a sentence of life in prison. Another proposed law is to ban all kinds of child marriage.

 

At present, Unicef says that 2 percent of Filipino girls are married by the age of 15-years-of-age and 15 percent are married by 18-years -of-age. However, thousands more teenagers are forced into relationships with older men as partners in so-called common-law “marriage” and become pregnant.The Philippines has one of the world’s highest rate of teenage pregnancy. Six percent of all teenage girls give birth each year. The Philippine Statistical Authority reports that every day an estimated 538 babies are born to Filipino teenage mothers, some 15 years old. That is 196,370 babies born by teenage mothers every year. Most are abandoned by the fathers. 

 

The machismo culture of male dominance and a false view that females are inferior still pervade Philippine society despite much progress. Many aspects of life are sexualized even children's programs on TV and social media show six-year-olds displayed dressed as adults complete with jewelries and makeup. It’s a pantomime for pedophiles. We must oppose this exploitation.

 

Online sexual abuse of children in the Philippines is the worst in the world. Uncontrolled Internet proliferation of child pornography is to be blamed. Government must enforce child protection laws and curb online sexual abuse of children by forcing the telecommunication companies PLDT/Smart, Globe Telecom and soon Dito Telecommunity to obey the Anti-Child Pornography Law of 2009 (RA9775) and compel them to install, as the law demands, effective blocking software on their servers. They have allegedly chosen to pay a small fine instead of protecting the children from pornography and online sexual abuse. The software is there such as Microsoft PhotoDNA and VideoDNA that can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect and block the abusive content and remove it and provide evidence to police.

 

We need to protect and heal the child victims and empower them. Child sexual abuse is a pandemic. Government and NGOs, besides talking and posturing, need to act and save the victims and establish protective therapeutic homes where there is dedicated professional help available to enable the victim/survivors of rape and abuse to recover and overcome the trauma. The children must be empowered to testify clearly and decisively against their assailants. The Philippines has very few such facilities with high professional standards that know how to heal and cure the children effectively.

 

The public must be educated about the need to prevent and report child abuse and to initiate strong legal action to bring thousands of child rapists to justice and imprison them to the penitentiary in Palawan where they can no longer abuse children. Only the human species sexually abuses their own offspring. We must oppose this with all our strength. We can all be advocates and defenders of children’s rights. Share this article with others and help bring about meaningful change.

Human Trafficking is a Global Challenge

 

When the group of eight teenagers was first referred to the Preda Home for Girls, they were still in shock having been taken into police custody during a rescue. What they did not realize was they had been victimized and exploited by unscrupulous human traffickers and used like sex slaves by male child abusers. They had been brainwashed like kindergarten children being wrongly taught that two plus two makes eight. They were easily persuaded and convinced that they were good-for-nothing other than teenage sex-workers earning a pittance. They believed it without question, their parents told them it was a job. They had been colluding with the traffickers and brothel owners.

 

Some victims of human trafficking are given false promises and money in advance of being abused. They owe debts to the traffickers and are scared to run away. They are captured and enslaved into debt bondage. A cruel form of control and exploitation, a kind of slavery like the days when millions of Africans were trafficked and chained in ships and transported to the Americas and sold like animals in a human auction.

 

The human traffickers of the slave trade were exalted, admired and had statues erected to them as if justifying their evil trade.  It is high time to undo that cultural criminal mindset which held that people were objects to be owned, things to be used and property of their owners to be bought and sold. It still exists today in the brothel and sex bar industry and online child sexual abuse.

   

Most of the money paid by the child sex abusers goes to the human traffickers and the brothel owners. The corrupt business people, politicians and police that protect the evil trade in innocent vulnerable humans get a cut and payoff and they stink like a den of dead rats.

 

The United Nations (UN) has declared 30 July of every year as World Day Against Human Trafficking and this year they are asking all citizens that support human rights to be aware and supportive of the first responders. These are the dedicated people that rescue, protect and heal the victims and give them a life of dignity and respect.

 

The UN says that women make up 49 percent and girls 23 percent of all victims of trafficking. Sexual exploitation is the most common form of exploitation (59 percent) followed by forced labour (34 percent). Most victims are trafficked within their countries’ borders; those trafficked abroad are moved to the richest countries.

 

The trafficked people are tricked, cheated, bound in debt, threatened and abused. Hundreds drown in the Mediterranean or are sexually abused or killed. Migrant seasonal workers from Morocco are sold like slaves to the Spanish strawberry farms. Hundreds are cheated, abused and exploited and made to live like animals, Euro News revealed recently.  On French farms, it is similar. The workers have few or no rights. The farm boss is the cruel king of the workers, fear rules their lives. Consumers can change that injustice by boycotting Spanish and French farm produce by telling the supermarket managers that they want local, Fair Trade products; not the food of exploitation.

 

The eight children are slowly recovering from trauma and discovering that they are good, have rights and dignity and a better future. With therapy and education, they are emerging from a dark fog of ignorance  to the light of understanding. With the support of agencies and individuals who care for the children and victims of trafficking, the Preda Homes provide shelter, protection and therapy, counseling and empowerment. This enables the victims to become survivors and resilient in overcoming the trauma of being exploited so that they are empowered to fight back against their abusers and traffickers and win as many as twenty convictions a year.

 

The responders and healers are the people that are seeking justice with the victims/survivors  and challenging the dead rat-infested system of corruption and impunity that allows and promotes the human trafficking of vulnerable and needy people.

 

The social workers, houseparents and therapists in the Preda homes for abused children are good examples of successful healers and protectors. The advocacy team promotes the campaign against human trafficking and exploitation. Prevention is what we need as much as healing and recovery. The Preda team is challenging some corrupt local politicians that allow and enable brothels and sex bars to thrive by issuing licenses and permits. Even in the middle of the pandemic, these dens of iniquity, causing pain and hurt, are allowed to continue operating and using the women and minors to earn huge sums of money.

 

The telecommunication corporations, like PLDT and Globe in the Philippines and their officials and investors, have to be continuously challenged because they allow and enable human trafficking and child sexual abuse by ignoring the Philippine law (RA 9775). They are like hungry vultures devouring the lives of children.

 

The Internet can be the curse or the cure of human trafficking. But when the Internet Server Providers (ISPs) allow it to be used freely for child abuse and human trafficking, without obeying the law that requires them to install blocking and filtering software, they are allowing the children to be destroyed, spiritually killed and devoured by their cronies and investors like Komodo dragons of Indonesia feasting on their victims.

 

When the telecommunication corporations fail to install the sophisticated software powered by effective Artificial Intelligence (AI), then they are the curse of the internet. The evidence against them is seen in the child pornography and on-line sexual abuse of children passing through their servers to and from paedophiles, human traffickers and pornographers. The traumatized suffering child victims are brought to the shelters and homes for healing and recovery like Preda Foundation, some are as young as three years old. But why should it be allowed to happen? Do not the Filipinos love their children and their nation? The owners, investors and board members of the ISPs are either too uncaring, too cynical, and too greedy for profits to save the children and the officials at the National Communications Commission (NTC), to their eternal shame, fail to implement the law.

 

Human trafficking and worker abuse is everywhere. Let us work together with good law enforcement and the caring public and use social media to campaign and expose the evil and help to bring it to an end by standing up for truth and goodness.

When the Light Shines Again

It was a happy day for Joshua. He graduated from the Preda vocational training program and proudly held a student's driver’s license and his graduation certificate while the camera clicked to record the moment and everyone there applauded. It was his day when the light shone for him.

He had completed and passed his driving test at the Preda Home for Boys and completed a course in shielded metal arc welding. He can apply for a job as a basic welder or driver when he gets his license. He was only seven months in the Preda program and his life had dramatically changed in that time.

Joshua was once a child prisoner, locked in a small bare prison cell with graffiti on the walls, a hole in the floor for a toilet and what a dark dangerous smelly place it was. The dark dungeons of Dicken’s novels were the only comparison. 

  

He became a fighter, a rebellious child prisoner. He opposed all authority, even the cell boss-man couldn’t control him so they beat and kicked him. The world for Joshua was a mean and dangerous place where his survival was threatened every day. They fought over the small food allowance of rice and expired cans of fish. He fought off the bigger youths that tried to rape him. He kicked and gouged and defended himself.

The day came when he was saved from this hell-hole of misery. He was released from the unjust and unnecessary detention. His only so-called crime was he was homeless and broke curfew. His father died when he was ten years old and his stepfather beat him and cursed him. He ran away and took to the streets; there was no home, no acceptance just rejection. The local officials locked him in the youth detention centre where the Preda social workers found him bruised, angry and rebellious.

With the release order signed by the judge, he came to the Preda home for boys in the countryside without fences, no cells just freedom and friendship. It was not an easy transition. His old survivalist ways dominated. He bullied others and fought for dominance as he believed that was what he was supposed to do in this world. He had learned on the streets and the jail cells that no one cares, no one helps, no one loves him.

That changed day by day as he realized that he was cared for, that he was respected, no one bullied him, he joined values formation sessions, education classes and slowly he realized he had landed in a family that cared.

He was respected for the first time in his life and was free to choose to stay and to change and learn. He had emotional release therapy and screamed out his buried pain and hatred for the abuse he suffered. He joined the  sports, the outings, games and picnics. Soon, he was taking vocational training. He was transforming. He tamed himself.   

He is now a happy, intelligent matured youth together with twenty classmates who are also growing and changing at the Preda home. Most of them are also taking the vocational training course as part of their diversion program under the Philippine Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (JJWA) or Republic Act 9344 that promotes restorative justice rather than harsh punishment. His graduation day and chance to be reintegrated to his sister’s family was when the light shone for him. It was a new day, a bright shining moment when he knew that he was truly accepted respected as a person of value and had true friends and would be helped succeed in life.  

Benjie, only 16, has completed many hours of electrical repair training and driving which will be a good chance for him to get a job when he leaves the Preda home and becomes of legal age. He has completed his Alternative Learning System (ALS) education which is a substitute for the years he missed for high school after he was arrested for taking and possessing illegal drugs. He discovered his true self, has human value and dignity at Preda home for boys. Thousands have been helped since 1974 to find recovery, peace and success in life. The light has shone for many like Benjie. His life story is a sad one as he tells it.

"My parents are separated; I was left with my grandmother in the slums when I was 10. Lola (grandmother) became old and sickly because we had no money and I begged for food. When I was 14 years old I tried to support her by selling vegetables from the open market but it was wasn’t enough for survival. We ate the rotten ones and bought pag-pag (uneaten leftovers from restaurants). Then a drug dealer recruited me, offered me cash and food and then drugs. I got hooked myself and I owed him money and worked for him. I was controlled by this gangster drug dealer, there was no way out. He threatened me and would kill Lola if I ran away and refused to deliver his dirty drugs. I was set for a life as a criminal and would likely be dead because of the war against drugs. If I was not saved by Preda and that lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), I would have been killed for sure." 

When Preda social workers intervened and the judge agreed to send Benjie to Preda, that was when the light shone for him. He graduated and has a bright future ahead of him. He can make his way in life and will succeed and his children will learn the values of respect and love and dignity. 

As many as 1,230 children are confined today in youth detention centers as far as we know. There could be more that we don't know. They are deprived of liberty and behind bars or in cages around the Philippines. The Preda Foundation has campaigned for the release of the children and as of today the number released is 323 children so far. There is hope and we must continue to advocate for the release of the unjustly jailed children.

Child Abuse over the Internet

 

They are the two latest arrivals at the Preda Foundation’s beautiful home for exploited children set in the countryside surrounded by wooded hills beside a small stream. The children are Pedro, 12, and Angelica, 7, victims of online sexual abuse perpetrated by the uncle with the knowledge of their parents. They are now rescued and are happily playing with toys and recovering from the abuse. 

 

They were rescued from an abusive uncle who sexually abused them. He made a video whereby he put his cell phone into his briefs and blindfolded the children and told them to look for it. He videotaped the sexual abuse that followed and uploaded it on YouTube. He was detected and the Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) of Region 4A tracked him down and arrested him.

 

A week previously, three more child victims of cyber sexual abuse were rescued also through the intervention of the International Justice Mission (IJM) together with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the PNP-WCPC. The children were brought by government social workers to the Preda home. The government has no more capacity for the victims and has no commitment to financially support them at the Preda home. They had been sexually abused by their own step-mother in online exposure to Australian pedophiles over the Philippine internet service providers either PLDT/Smart or Globe when arrested. These companies are violating Philippine law by not blocking child pornography and allowing live streaming of child sexual abuse. Soon, there may be international sanctions against them if they don’t obey Philippine and international laws to protect children online.

 

The Philippines is a global hot spot of child sexual abuse online. It is growing more severe with the Coronavirus lock-down and restricted international travel. Many more foreign pedophiles are seeking sexual gratification by having children abused live online while they watch. Parents and relatives are the perpetrators and the ISPs that enable it. 

 

The frequency and number of reported incidents of online sexual child abuse has exploded. The US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which operates the Cyber Tipline Report (CTR), has a hotline for cases of online exploitation of children and has recorded 279,166 reports from March 1 to May 24, 2020, according to the Philippine Department of Justice. The number is greater by 264.63 percent or by 202,605 incidents in comparison to the figures recorded at this time last 2019. Then there were 76,561 reports of online sexual abuse of small children. This a shocking and disgusting figure of this heinous crime. The NCMEC is a US private non-government agency funded by the US government.

 

Another study led by the International Justice Mission (IJM) shows that Philippine internet-based child sexual abuse had tripled in the past three years. The study showed that the number of Philippine IP accounts that were used for child sexual exploitation online increased from about 23,333 in 2014 to the whopping total of 81,723 by 2017. So over a three year period, the increase in the number of Internet IP addresses used that shared images and acts of sexual abuse of children increased from 43 per 10,000 IP addresses to 149 per 10,000 IP addresses- a massive and shocking increase in the child sexual abuse of Filipino children.

 

This evil inclination of the pedophiles and their enablers that is damaging thousands of children shows a serious failure of irresponsible government officials to implement existing laws to protect the nation’s children. The enablers that make it possible are the internet server providers such as PLDT/Smart and Globe Telecommunications. Soon, a new player DITO Telecommunity, will be a provider of access to the internet.

 

The ever vigilant and straight-talking man of action, President Rodrigo Duterte, intolerant of child sexual abuse, must use all his presidential power to protect the children and get the National Telecommunication Commission, headed by Commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Deputy Commissioner Delilah F. Delesto to explain why the Electronic and Internet Service Providers such as PLDT/Smart and Globe have not installed detection software to block the uploading and downloading of child pornography and online live-streaming of the sexual abuse of children as provided by law.

 

The NTC was so quick to issue a “Cease and Desist Order” against ABS-CBN for no fault other than the non-renewal of its franchise but how much more important is the protection of little children, some three-year olds from online sexual abuse  about which the NTC appears to do nothing,  favoring PLDT and Globe? These powerful Internet Servers PLDT headed by Manuel V. Pangilinan and Globe headed by Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala must answer for the child abuse that is happening over their internet servers. Have they “captured” the regulators at the NTC and have an arrangement NOT to implement the clear provisions of the law? Would they lose the revenue of more than 82,000 or even 100,000 paying customers perhaps? 

 

Republic Act 9557, under Section 9, says: “The duties of Internet Server Providers (ISP) to monitor the content passing through their servers notify the police of illegal content and provide the authorities the particulars of users who gained or attempted to gain access to an Internet address which contains any form of child pornography.  All ISPs shall install available technology, program or software to ensure access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography will be blocked or filtered.” (See the complete law at   www.preda.org). The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, Republic Act No. 10175 bans cybersex and child pornography, among other things.

 

What appears to be collusion between government agencies and the telecommunications companies enables 24/7 the access to horrific images of children being tortured, raped and abused. The pernicious and evil abuse of online streaming of children being sexually abused must be stopped by the NTC and the ISPs. Can President Duterte be the one man that can do it? Who are the worst criminals? They who do it? They who order and pay for it? Or those in the NTC and ISPs who enable it to happen? All three must be held to account and face the sanctions of the just laws.  

The Three Great Catastrophes Facing Mankind

There are three deadly catastrophic events engulfing the world as you read this. None of us can ignore these realities without suffering the dire consequences. Should we do so, we will be less human, less responsible and become more self-centered and even devoid of the great virtues and values that make good people better. The first is the pandemic coronavirus (Covid-19). The second is global warming and the dangerous climate change it is bringing to the planet and each one of us. The third is the age-old human evil of child slavery and child sexual abuse. For all three, we need to respond with a vigorous determination and global unity. Each is an evil, a disaster, a catastrophe that is happening now.

 

The coronavirus is attacking the children in jail where they are cramped, squeezed, and forced to live in tiny government cells, in grave danger of the virus where they are likely waiting to die.  We appeal to the Philippine public, judges, the Public Attorney’s Office, Office and mayors to act to save the children. I previously exposed the truth of children in jails and the heinous crimes of sexual, physical and psychological abuse against the smaller children by the older inmates. View this on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_96Du7MWaE 

 

The coronavirus has locked-down families and some have continued sexually exploiting their own children or the children of others on the internet using cellphones and tablets. They are screening their naked children and some abusing them in front of the camera for foreign customers who pay them by money transfer. Only a tiny fraction of the abuse is discovered by international police forces and Interpol. The streaming of child sexual abuse is banned by law in the Philippines. The National Telecommunications Commission is mandated under RA 9775 (section 9) to enforce the law that mandates all Internet Server Providers to install software to block and filter child pornography and live streaming. But they don’t enforce the law and thousands of children are being sexually abused online and many more in danger of online cyber-sex abuse.

 

The latest victims of this gross government neglect were rescued from cyber-sex abuse and were admitted to the Preda home for sexually abused girls last week. Two of them, Jane, 14 and Charmie, 11, and six-year old Patricia (not real names) had been used by their own stepmother in online sexual abuse and were in the process of contacting another customer from Australia when they were rescued by operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) and the Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) from a 34-year old female suspect. She was forcing the children to perform sexual acts live on webcam for paying customers. She has been arrested.

 

When admitted to the Preda home they were given care, comfort, encouragement and affirmation. They were warmly welcomed and reassured they are good children, innocent and had done no wrong. They were assured that they will find safety and new friends at the Preda home. They were given tasty meals, new clothes, toys and a special apartment and Preda caregivers. The next day they were smiling and talking to the Preda social workers and telling openly what they had endured.

 

Just in case they were exposed to Covid-19, the Preda staff called in medical personnel to administer a rapid diagnostic test for Covid-19. They happily proved negative but will stay in the special apartment for 14 days to be sure. Then, they can join the community of fifty children that are healing and recovering from child rape and human slavery and trafficking.

 

They endured much abuse. The eldest, Jane, 14, told Preda social workers that she was nine years old when she was first brought to the Wild Orchid Hotel by her mother together with her sister, Rose 16 years old. Jane was allegedly sexually abused by two Australian men, one named Daniel and another William Allen Corley in Clarkton Hotel in Angeles City. The men allegedly videotaped and photographed the sex abuse of the children. William Corley, 63, from West Ryde in Sydney was arrested recently in Australia and released on bail in April this year. He is charged with crimes related to sending payments to the Philippines to pay for online child sex abuse and being in possession of child pornography.

 

The Australian Federal Police can now charge him for allegedly sexually abusing and endangering Jane, Charmie and and Patricia. The children will soon be healing, recovering and empowered to testify against Corley and his friend Daniel. The Australian police will soon identify him. The pictures of the three children are likely to be in Corley’s collection of child porn seized by Australian police. They can contact us at shaycullen@gmail.com or +63 9228768621.

 

The most recent episode of abuse was in their small house in Angeles City. The stepmother pimp was in contact with another Australian man that lives in Melbourne and he has been identified by the children and the pimp. He was waiting for the sex abuse to begin when the police arrived and rescued the children and arrested the pimp.

 

Charmie, now 11- years old, was abandoned by her mother and her father’s new live-in partner brought her to hotels all around Angeles City when she was ten. Child sex abuse, child pornography and cyber-sex is allegedly a common business in the hotels and hopefully not totally ignored by local police and politicians.

 

Charmie was forced to participate in live internet cyber-sex shows. After each show, they gave her money. Six-year old Princess was also brought to the hotels and she has not yet spoken about what abuse was done to her on camera or by the pedophiles.

 

This is just one of thousands of acts of child sex abuse in the Philippines and millions more in every country on the world. It is a global disaster for our children and a catastrophe for the world. Humans are the only species who do this to their offspring. The majority of the perpetrators of child abuse are the biological fathers and live-in partners followed by pedophiles helped by women pimps. Most of it is covered up and hidden and children hide it all their lives.

 

To choose to remain silent, hide away and do nothing is allowing child abuse to spread like another pandemic. Preda Foundation saves hundreds of children and wins as many as twenty convictions against child rapists every year. Help the work with advocacy and support. Stand up and speak out for the child victims.

Who Was the Resurrected Jesus of Nazareth?

When the sun rises and spreads its light upon the world and on our lives, the darkness of the night and death is gone. The coming of the light is hope and strength for all people of good will. The Resurrection is more than a historical, physical rising from the dead. It is the belief that the spirit and presence of Jesus of Nazareth is with us and his friendship is available to all who want a new, happier life doing good and helping others.

No matter the hardship and pain we suffer and endure, we can have hope and faith that love, goodness and the truth will one day beat back the bad, conquer evil, bring the unjust and cruel to justice. The force of goodness and love will lift up the poor from misery, bring comfort to the wretched, give equality to the oppressed, healing to the sick, freedom to the prisoners, food for the hungry, a home to refugees, liberation to the abused and peace for victims of violence.

These are the great values that this charismatic and amazing character Jesus of Nazareth brought into the world with such unshakeable conviction and force that they have lasted to the present. He was the son of a carpenter and of a simple mother and they lived in a remote village. He had little formal learning, had no status, no connections, no wealth or influence. Yet he changed the world. He grew to be a person of character and integrity. He was wise with incredible foresight and understanding of human nature, self-confident, steadfast and uncorrupted. He was a born leader.

When he decided to go and be baptized by John, he was wised to the political corruption, the evils, killings and murders of King Herod. He was wise to the hypocrisy of the landowners and temple priests who rejected John because he called for social reform and transformation of the nation, a return to trust and faithfulness to God and the commandments. Jesus wanted the same but after a sojourn in the desert, he emerged with a plan. The nation must change, not by an outward baptism, but by total transformation and a complete change in the unjust system. This was a nation ruled by dynastic families that held power and ruled the poor with a harsh regime and easily killed them for their perceived acts of immorality and breaking their strict laws. There was a rebel movement too, Zealots led by a Judas the Galilean, against the ruling elite and the Romans. Jesus did not join them. He chooses non-violence and to persuade and invite the rich and the poor, to reform and totally change society by choosing goodness, truth, justice, commitment to social reform and equality based on the respect and upliftment of the poor.  

  

He wanted everyone to be free from the grip and evil of the unjust system. He set out to negate the power of abusers, oppressors and dictators by a people power revolution but by persuasion, reason, teaching and practicing what he preached. He was an open, friendly person. He understood the hardship of the ordinary person and had true empathy for them. They were the oppressed, the poor, the outcasts and marginalized people. He had great compassion for them and a message that one day, they would inherit the earth. They could overcome poverty and oppression one day.

He mingled with the outcasts of society, the beggars, the commercially exploited women, tax collectors, those despised, slaves and victims of injustice. He declared to the world that they are precious and of great value in themselves and to God. Evil, he taught, comes from evil people  and love comes from God.

He was charismatic and was sought after to give a talk or tell a parable. He sat with the priests and members of the ruling class and tried to persuade them to change and be compassionate and forgiving and change the corrupt unjust system. This was his mission and it was to be achieved by his followers through their personal commitment to bring equality, justice and love of the stranger into society.

   

He took no titles, wore no crown, avoided stardom and celebrity status and taught everyone to be washers of feet. He taught that those who sought status should be servants of the poor, helpers of the downcast, uplifters of the sad and supporters to the depressed. He gave the example and washed feet, a servant’s job. He challenged each follower to strive to be honest, to be a person of integrity, to love the truth, to tell no lies, never to cheat, always to be compassionate and  fight for justice. He said that he was just one of the people, a son of mankind, one of the masses. He challenged hypocrisy, was angry with those who lacked respect for children and said the children were the most important in the kingdom. He respected traditions but was not bound by them.  

He was independent of all, bound to none, controlled by nobody. He was free to think, speak and live a life of personal freedom and goodness and showed how we all can have renewed lives and be pure of mind and heart.

Jesus of Nazareth is a model, he overcame the pain of those betrayers and unfaithful followers who turned against him. He remained a faithful friend and is trustworthy. He is alive today and his spirit is the way for many to live again, an inspiration for many who have lost their way. He is the shining light for any who live in darkness and despair and long for freedom from addiction, loneliness, meaningless lives and are dependent on drugs, alcohol, crime, sex and pleasure seeking for he understands that they are running from their own demons, escaping from their own pains of childhood and abuse. They have suffered neglect and loveless lives and from what they suffered they are broken and need healing. They worship gods of gold, pleasure, power, and materialistic idols, follow celebrities that give no hope, love, compassion, forgiveness or support.

Jesus of Nazareth understands the human condition, the weakness and temptations that bring us down. He forgives wrong-doers when they humbly admit their fault, confess their crime and repent, do penance and make restitution to their victims. All who choose to act for goodness and truth will come alive and experience a resurrection and they can live in friendship and trust. They will find who they are and what they can be.

We All Want to Live

What do we recall these holy days but the life-giving love and compassion of one person who changed the world by teaching mankind that  justice is more powerful than revenge, that compassion is greater than condemnation, that  believing in goodness and truth to overcome evil is a power that can change the world. That person is Jesus of Nazareth, truly a revolutionary who worked to convert the nation and corrupt leaders by calling for justice, loving the poor, respecting their dignity and rights. He stood with the downtrodden and for him, the children were the most important of all and women had equal rights. He was rejected by the leaders, despised, falsely accused, charged as a rebel and given the death penalty.

 

Yet those values he introduced are alive today but are rejected by corrupt leadership. Jesus of Nazareth had a deep conviction in the power of goodness and truth. He taught that people who had conviction and was one in goodness would live a fuller life of happiness and this would change the world. Everybody wants to live, be secure, healthy and happy and avoid death. These dreams and desires are supposed to be made reality by a just government of integrity.

   

The tragedy of the human species is that so many of the leaders succeed by nefarious ways to get and remain in positions of political and economic power. The bad ones are people of low moral values, devoid of principles and integrity. They despise the weak, exploit them and steal from the public purse to enrich themselves. They silence the speakers of truth; they kill the doers of good.  These world leaders are the greatest threat to the well-being of the people and the planet. They lack commitment and concern for climate change. They are devoid of wise and learned action for the common good and bring the people and planet closer to the brink of disaster.  So it was in the time of Jesus who called for change before it was too late.

 

This disastrous failure of leadership today has allowed the latest catastrophic spread of the Coronavirus to every nation, community and parish. It was foreseen, predicted, and a stupefied immoral leadership failed to act. Some leaders and their rich cronies and supporters, in order to preserve their economic wealth and prevent the stock market from crashing, resisted a lock-down.  It was a policy of fatalism. “There is nothing we can do,” they said. Let the weak die and create “herd immunity” for the strong. Fatalism is a form of spiritual and mental paralysis, it denies  the truth, undervalues people’s lives and freezes decision-making that would have saved many. As a result, death is all around us. Friends, relatives, parents are dying because of the failure of leaders to act in time against the deadly pandemic Coronavirus.    

 

I saw shocking video clips from Indonesia of people in public places convulsing and choking to death with Covid-19 and no one would dare to help them.  One brave woman rushed to help a dying  woman. She acted on an impulse of compassion and empathy to try and help the stranger. She risked her own life. Who or what motivated her and others to act in a self-sacrificial manner?  Patients have willingly given up their life-saving ventilators to others younger and choose to die so that others could live. What motivates health workers to report for work where they could be fatally infected themselves and die?

 

It is the power that comes from the unshakeable conviction, the belief that goodness and truth will overcome evil. It is called faith. That kind of faith is a true and good conviction that every person is of value, has dignity and right to life. Such faith and belief motivates and empowers people. They are the few who leave their comfort zone and choose to help others. They help others out of kindness, integrity and goodness. They love the poor and work for justice. People stuck in fatalism and despair cannot act in this way.

 

Their conviction that goodness and truth will triumph over evil is an inner experience that flows out into action for justice for the poor. It is the unseen immeasurable power of a spiritual experience. It is akin to hope, for hope too is a conviction that goodness will triumph over evil. The world urgently needs such conviction to challenge with courage the despots and tyrants, the money moguls and corrupt captains of industry that oppress and exploit the downtrodden making them refugees, homeless and hungry. The leaders that Jesus wanted were to be believers in goodness and truth that protect, serve and help the poor, the oppressed, the deprived, the abused children.  

 

The world community is facing a catastrophic situation right now like no other in history. Not only is the Coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world but even more damaging are the deadly effects of climate change. The indifference and apathy of many world leaders and their business partners accelerates deadly climate change that is threatening the human race and bringing the natural world close to collapse. To return to doing the good and taking right action based on faith in the goodness and dignity of every human with the right to a sustainable life is what the world needs. This will bring justice and peace to all.  Without such values, evil will triumph and we will face the consequence of a faithless society, devoid of spiritual values, one that is based on selfishness, greed, exploitation, and power.  

 

Yet if enough people unite believing in the force of goodness, the power of loving each other, respecting the rights of all and making it a movement, there will be change. There will be a halt to the pandemic, to climate change, to global collapse of the world economy. We can change the world for the better. We need to believe that we can and that our faith will save us. That is the powerful reason Jesus gave to those who were healed.  No one did it. They healed themselves. “Your faith has made you whole,” he said. For doing good and wanting a just and equal society, they killed him, nailed on a cross, a cruel death for an innocent man. He left a meal of friendship. "Do this in memory of me", he said, and we remember his powerful message how to change the world. Many good innocent people are killed today for doing justice and believing in goodness.

What is the Meaning of Life?

What a challenging world we live in. Half the people on the planet are cowering inside their homes and shelters. Many are in fear of Coronavirus, too nervous to go out. The poor are hungry, millions are unemployed, the economy is in free fall and people are worried and asking when it will all end. That no one knows. The challenge is for us to embrace the power of goodness, to build up our strength, to be resilient, compassionate, just, caring, sharing and helping each other and strangers.

The threat to shoot to kill the protesting hungry people in Tondo, Manila is totally unjust and would be seen as a crime against humanity. Their need is for food and help to live, not bullets and death. There has been more than 200 billion pesos (US $4 billion) set aside for the alleviation of hunger. It must be shared.

Children and adults are locked in overcrowded sub-human prisons around the world all in danger of mass death from the virus. In the Philippines, hundreds of children 13 years and older suffer abuse and torture in jails. They must be released. Many adult prisoners should be released, too, before the guards have to carry out thousands of infected corpses including some of their own.

Brave doctors and health workers are risking their lives every hour to help save others. Many doctors and nurses have died. They have limited protective garb and know the danger yet they courageously worked on, heroes all for the sake of humanity.

Many died because the government health systems around the world are unprepared. Some leaders are too dumb, ignorant or corrupt to see and understand the danger and prepare a stockpile of protective gear. The simple truth is that this virus cannot be easily stopped, there is no cure and it kills.

There are too few available life-saving respirators and doctors have to make the agonizing heart-breaking decisions whom to save. Will it be the 85-year old or the 23-year old younger patient? One older Catholic priest in Italy willingly gave his respirator to a younger person and the priest died. It was a heroic act of self-sacrifice, may his spirit live on.

This is a virus that is a monster from hell and all the ingenuity and science of humankind is almost defeated. Everyone must stay as isolated as possible to defeat Coronavirus. Although it is not a living organism but a protein, it needs a human host to replicate itself.

The experts tell us that the virus needs to attach itself to our cells and use the RNA there to pass information about itself to the new round of viruses that are being cloned and multiplying in the human body. The virus is evolving as if it were alive, and likely causes the infected person to cough or sneeze so it can transfer itself to another person. It is clever for a non-living, non-thinking protein. It seems to be similar but smarter than some non-thinking billionaire politicians whom we hope will not replicate themselves.

There is no known reason or purpose why it exists. Why does anything or anybody exist in the first place? Is there any purpose to it or life itself or none at all? Some say there is no purpose, we just are. Yet we and all life exist on a tiny speck of a planet in a vast universe among millions of galaxies. The universe, scientists tell us, came into existence from a big bang, an explosion of energy apparently from nothing but at that infinitesimal millionth of a second all material matter came into existence. That’s some amazing true story. And we came from that. The universe of which we are an intimate part of (although insignificant) is vast, endless, existing for no known reason. Does there have to be a reason at all and can something come from nothing is the question.

What is human reason anyway, did it evolve as the ability of the human species to be self-ware, to think and to then know that we exist? As the philosopher Rene Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” But what if we don’t think, don’t converse with ourselves, what then is the purpose of existing?

In a less philosophical frame of mind, we may recall Coronavirus came from some people eating wild animals, like bats, and other exotic wild creatures in a market in Wuhan. Well, the Chinese government has to stop all that illegal trade in animal parts that is destroying the animal kingdom and human lives. Some authorities there are accused of trafficking in human body parts, too. They execute prisoners without just trials to harvest their body parts for medical operations.

Coronavirus is a non-living protein yet a seemingly almighty invisible force that has brought every nation to its knees, making millions sick and causing death. Is there no positive virus or protein that can lift up the human species and improve its value of life with strong moral values and principles?

Some believe that there is a spiritual power that can motivate people to choose the good, live a moral life, love truth, honesty and justice and to care for strangers in need and treat them as friends. It is the gift of belief in a supreme intelligent being that is the ultimate cause of the universe and the big bang and humans. To be in close union with this Supreme Being, the universal force of goodness and love is happiness. That gives purpose of all life, especially human life.

In these days of great challenge and dramatic life changing events, we can survive the Coronavirus and be happier if that universal force of goodness and love is with us and we are with the force. That will be enough for anyone of us to self-sacrifice and give our respirator to someone younger than us.

Challenges of the Coronavirus

 

We are facing an immense challenge around the world. Everyone has to realize the danger and stay at home and practice strict hygiene. Thousands are dying- friends, relatives and many die alone. We are people with rational intelligence. Everyone is important and equal in dignity and rights and we have to respect all and give help and support so more will be saved.

 

During lock-down, together with family members, we can do practical tasks, forming bonds and showing others we care for them and love them. We can call our parents and tell them that we love them and thank them for giving us life and education and support so we can live a healthy meaningful life. Parents should call their children to say that they love them, too. In these challenging times, we all need to come closer in spirit with each other when we must practice social distancing.

 

There is economic damage and loss and many jobs are gone. Government can provide help. Let us consider ourselves more fortunate than the abandoned, unemployed, migrant workers, Filipinos among them, on the streets of Dubai and Doha or locked down in the industrial area of Doha. There, the COVID-19 infection is spreading out of control among the thousands of workers locked in and guarded by the military in their confined, overcrowded quarters. There is no hospital there. There will be a high death toll, and no one will know how many. The World Cup will be played over the bodies of the dead. For those too in other Middle Eastern countries, the Philippine Government must reach out through the Embassy and rescue them. They are in dire straits, a journalist told me over the phone.

 

Everyone in stay-at-home quarantine faces challenges. There will be stress and tension of close confinement, arguments will erupt and there may be violence and broken homes as a result. But the happy side for those who have lived isolated lives and are separated from family is that they will hopefully come together to talk and listen to each other and have a new family experience by sharing life stories and experiences and be united.

 

The other challenge of the lock-down is having the children at home all day with their parents if the parents are not in essential jobs. It is a great chance to spend quality time with the children and parents can get to know and understand and interact with them. They can do many things together: lessons, games, singing, chatting, playing music, cooking, watching movies or television together.

 

If isolated alone, read books. I recommend two of my own, Passion and Power, the story of my life in the Philippines, doing human rights work and fighting the sex mafia and their political backers for 46 years. A work that is still providing healing for the victims of child abuse through the Preda Foundation. If that is too heavy, try the reflective, thought-provoking novel, Ricky and Julie, an adventure story based on real events. Both are available on Amazon.com or I can send you a free copy as a gift, just send me an email.

 

There is a negative tragic side to the lock-down. Children who are victims of child sexual abuse by a parent or relative will be locked in the house or apartment with the abuser and will have little chance to escape and run on the streets and have no one to tell. These will be terrible times for them. Child protection agencies should open telephone hotlines where a child might be able to call for help. Preda Foundation has one: +63 9175324453.

 

Coronavirus challenges us to be compassionate and caring to suffering patients when sickness strikes. There is the physical pain of this dangerous flu, headaches and body pain. There is the emotional stress of not knowing if you or your parents or relatives have it, and if yes, will you or they survive? We need to let others know that love and support is there in abundance. We stand together in the face of this pandemic. It is the great leveller, the rich and the poor can get it. But the rich Filipino politicians have taken unfair privileges getting themselves tested when they had no symptoms and testing kits in short supply.

 

The homeless, are challenged above all. They are without family or friends, adrift on the streets, sleeping in doorways and underbridges. If they are crowded into shelters, the coronavirus will get them too. Many are already doomed. They need all the help the social services department can give.

 

The challenge is for slum dwellers to survive. They are the poorest and the most vulnerable. They are malnourished, have weak immune systems and cannot isolate themselves. In the teeming slums, social distancing is not possible where shacks and shanties, hovels and plastic shelters are crammed together. Many will die unknown, uncounted, until they gain herd immunity if ever. 

 

What a challenge it is for the doctors to stay free of infection. Many have died already because they lacked protective gear. They have to decide who will live and die when there are only a few ventilators in the hospital for too many patients in desperate need of the breathing apparatus. These are heartbreaking decisions to be made. A suffering priest in Italy got a ventilator as a gift from the parishioners but he gave it to a younger patient and the good priest died. That is a self-sacrifice worthy of a saintly person.

 

When there is no life-saving ventilator, for some it is like a death sentence. They die alone, isolated from friends or relatives, no one can come close- such is the contagious nature of this plague because it is an incurable plague that all of modern medical science and knowledge is unable to conquer. A vaccine is far off. Yet, despite the previous similar outbreaks like Avian flu and SARS, the world did not learn, it was not ready.

 

Taiwan and South Korea were prepared and acted quickly to impose lock-down and made millions of testing kits and has been and is testing everyone. They have efficient epidemic control centers since the SARS. They have isolated those positive for the infection and trace all with whom they had been in contact with and quarantined them, too. It worked and has the pandemic under control. They have shown the world how to do it. Will the world take the challenge and learn that prevention is infinitely better than cure? 

The Good and Bad Side-Effects of Coronavirus

The good side-effects we can see during this medical crisis brought about by the coronavirus is the love, concern and care shown by the dedicated caregivers, nurses and medical workers. It is phenomenal. The goodness and love of millions of humans has come shining through. There are neighbourhood help movements growing online. In Canada, an online network is helping the elderly, neighbours are helping neighbours. In Italy, people are singing from balconies to cheer up those in quarantine. People are changing to a healthy diet also.

Preda Fair Trade Dried Mango fruit with loads of Vitamin C and no chemicals are selling fast in the UK and Ireland. People are changing to a healthy diet to strengthen their immune system to fight off and prevent the flu and hopefully coronavirus.

The Preda dried mangos are available online for ordering if you can’t leave home. Go to the www.forestfeast.com online and ask a friend to do it. If you can go shopping to Tescos, Dunnes or Waitrose, you will find the Preda Dried Mangos there under the Forest Feast brand. Buy lots. All earnings from sales go to support the abused children rescued by Preda Foundation and protect them from the Coronavirus. You are doing good for all.

But the greatest good is the dedication of caregivers and medical workers. Eighty-year-old Elizabeth would not survive the coronavirus if not for Margi, her devoted caregiver. Everyday, Margi Gonzalez risks getting infected on her rounds visiting her many patients in the community center. She treats any sores, takes blood pressure and temperature and sees that they are comfortable, fed, and taking her medicine on time. Elizabeth and others are being monitored for the coronavirus after one member of the community tested positive. Thousands of caregivers like Margi are slowing the spread of the deadly contagious infection. She was a migrant from the Philippines to Britain.

There are many good people like Margi on the front line. Many are former migrants or refugees, who fled poverty, oppression, fear and suffering for a new, better life. Now the rich, developed nations benefit from their skills and service. That is a positive result of a sad history of human rights violations and injustice. Margi was marked as a protest leader and fled the death squads employed by a mining firm to quell the protest against the mining corporation taking over their farmland.

That is the paradox, the poor flee as migrants or refugees the hardship caused by the greedy multinational corporations supported by their governments. They exploit the natural resources of poor nations in cahoots with the local corrupt ruling families. These three are the corrupt players behind every conflict. They drive the poor to become migrants and refugees. They in turn become the caregivers of the nation that exploited and harmed them.

Another positive outcome of the disastrous impact of the coronavirus is the lock-down and restricted international travel. The end to cheap flights and the grounding of thousands of planes, strict screening, setting up roadblocks, demanding IDs, all has a positive effect. This helps to curb human trafficking of young girls and boys into Western countries from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. It is the modern slave trade that has hopefully been slowed.

In an overnight decree, governments banned any and all travel of most people, including the travel of sex offenders, pedophiles and sex tourists and paedophiles on child rape holidays. That is another kind of epidemic. There is no specific law against it. There should be. As the multinationals rape the land of its minerals, the rich paedophiles come and rape the children. Preda Foundation is fighting this and rescuing the child victims for healing. Preda Fair Trade helps us in this fight as serious as coronavirus. You can help, too.

The young girls and boys are lured into servitude with false promises of well-paid jobs by mafia-like networks. The victims are held in debt bondage and forced to work in the Philippines or rich countries for little or no pay. They are slaves, threatened with beatings and harm to their families in their home countries if they don’t cooperate and become slaves or sex workers. Preda Foundation rescues and heals many.

Thousands of descendents of Irish migrants are in the medical profession around the world now fighting coronavirus. From 1845 to 1849, starving Irish migrants fled from British colonial exploitation of Ireland and the famine that they caused and allowed. British politicians and families had taken Irish land by force and became rich. The Irish were impoverished. They fled as refugees and migrants to America.

The United States was then a land of freedom, hope and opportunity for the oppressed and the poor. Thousands of Irish fought and died in the civil war against slavery. Now, under Trump, it is a closed fortress ruled by an anti-migrant white supremacist clique incapable of responding strongly and correctly to the coronavirus pandemic and allowing it to spread.

We all are challenged to fight the coronavirus by avoiding all contamination by self-quarantine, hand washing, keeping social distance, and getting tested when protocols require. We must respect, honor and support those who are risking all to help us win.