The Rape of Innocence

Child protection is one of the most urgent and serious responsibilities of parents, children, the community and government. We celebrate the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child this November. It establishes the right of every child to a life of peace and security, dignity, fulfilled needs, a happy family, education, freedom, protection from abuse and poverty, right to health, justice and play and happiness. The Convention binds all member nations to respect and implement the rights of the child and act in the best interests of the child.

Before the Convention, the awareness and recognition that the child is the most vulnerable and  needy and the extent of child sexual abuse was unrecognized by the general public. It was the great secret never to be talked about, to be hidden like a pestilence behind closed doors. In many societies, it still is. Reporting of child sexual abuse is improving slowly but has a long way to go. It was and is taboo for many. It is the unspoken evil that, like a monster, would haunt anyone who talked about it. The best way to deal with child sexual abuse, rape and sex slavery was to bury it away and cover it up. Perhaps paedophilia was and is so prevalent that society thought it of little consequence and still does. The paedophiles were and are in positions of power and can influence and condition the rest of society to remain silent. That is why the Convention is so important.

There is now an awakening in society. Many nations have new strict laws and awareness. Children were taught to remain silent and never complain against adults even if they were abused. We heard the old strict caution given to children, “Silence is golden,” “Children could be seen but never heard.” Brave and courageous are the children that come forward and protest and complain. The #MeToo movement creates an environment where speaking out is encouraged. Why has it taken so long? Yet, it is only a tip of a great iceberg of silence that remains, freezing most in fear and shame. Our task is to warm the climate and help them unfreeze.

Millions of people went through school and college and were never warned against child sexual abuse being so prevalent. The Ten Commandments do not explicitly condemn it. Jesus of Nazareth did and placed children as the most important in the Kingdom and said abusers should be cast into the sea with a millstone tied around their necks (Matthew 18:1-7). He had it right and took a strong clear position on it.  But that was ignored by Church leaders over the ages. Not surprising then that clerical sexual abuse of children was and is such a frequent crime that it was ignored and covered up. We have to stand against it and expose it everywhere.

A new educational curriculum in California will teach young children about their bodies and how to protect themselves. Some parents reject such education as if children should not know they can be hurt and abused and must report it. They can and ought to be taught to do so. The LA Times reported, “Roughly 200 protesters showed up outside the state Capitol on Wednesday, some with their children in tow, holding signs that read “No to Explicit Sex Ed” and “Too Much Too, Soon.”

People in less progressive societies do not teach their children to resist abuse and report it. Some consider it even “permissible” for a man to do it. Paedophiles love the fear and silence that surrounds child abuse. It allows abuse with impunity. In India, a child is raped every 15 minutes.

In the Philippines, a child or woman is raped every 75 minutes and little is done to challenge the culture of silence. About 80 percent or 32,000,000 children suffer from violence. Seven million of these children between the ages of 10 to 18 are sexually abused every year. Twenty percent or 1.4 million are under six years old. Boys are more likely to be raped, according to a UNICEF study. They will grow up with anger and hatred in their hearts and be more prone to be violent in their family or society and turn to crime and insurrection.

What do small children know and say about it? If given a chance, they will tell the powerful truth. In a recent court case in Olongapo City, a three-year old girl and her six-year old sister, under the protection and care of the Preda Foundation, testified against their biological father. She clearly told the court what happened. “He poked his fingers into my “pepe” (vagina).Then her six-year old sister testified clearly and said she saw the rape happening and tried to pull her father off her little sister to no avail.

The judge, Judge Gemma Theresa B.Hilario-Logronio, said in her decision that the children were clear and consistent in their testimony. The children’s father was convicted to life in prison. This is a strong fearless judge that applies the law based on the clear testimony of the witnesses and with supporting medical evidence. A few weeks ago, she convicted another rapist, a live-in partner of the mother of a 13-year old child cared for by the Preda Foundation, and gave two sentences of life in prison.

Justice is a powerful healing for victims of sexual abuse and just enlightened judges are an essential part of the healing process. We have to create an environment where children are empowered to come forward and tell their ordeal without fear, to a welcoming and supportive court and community. Creating this is the duty and moral obligation of all of us.

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 Death Penalty, a Weapon of Power

 

The Philippines is known for its culture of happy, friendly people with a love of life. Family bonds are strong, respect for the aged is high, concern for the poor is widespread. The sacredness of life is enshrined in the constitution and in laws protecting the people. The value of life is ingrained in the conscience of the nation. Murder and killing is wrong and evil, all know it, yet there is a dark shadow, a force that diminishes society. It is a dangerous force that makes its own rules and enforces them in a way that keeps millions of Filipinos in fear and dire poverty.

 

That force is a corrupt political system that has endured since the days of the Spanish conquest and American colonialism and has perpetuated the rule of irresponsible dynastic family of lawmakers and politicians. They rule through fear and threats to the life and security of the people. Martial law is one measure of control to perpetuate an economy of the rich where an estimated .0001 percent own or control 70 percent of the wealth. It is an economy run on low wages and a society of shocking inequality and social injustice. Millions of Filipinos go abroad seeking high paying jobs. Society is like an island of luxury condos in a sea of slum hovels.

 

The death penalty is another measure of control. It will be largely symbolic but a threat nevertheless. There are 19 bills filed in congress to revoke the law banning the death penalty.  The informal death penalty is already present on our streets through extrajudicial killings. The Philippine National Police (PNP) has records showing its operatives killed as many as 6,700 suspects since 2016 in so-called shoot-outs of drug pushers and users. The campaign is part of the enforcement of the war-on-drugs and thrives on a culture of impunity and fear.

 

The police blame rampant vigilante death squads for many more extra judicial killings but deny any connection to them. Some commentators say as many as 28,000 suspects have been killed. There have been very few arrests and no convictions of vigilante death squad members. The piles of bodies are evidence of that as they administer the death penalty daily. Evidence that some police themselves are involved at the highest level in recycling and selling 160 kilos of seized drugs is a major challenge to the anti-drug president himself. The chief of the PNP has resigned.

 

There is no point to reviving the death penalty other than to justify in law that killing is a legitimate way to address social problems. The poor will be victimized by such a revived law. They are easily framed up, they take the blame for rich killers and they cannot afford lawyers to defend themselves from false charges.

 

The death penalty is an inhumane cruel punishment. It is vengeance-seeking and not all victims of crimes want revenge by taking life. The innocent are often wrongly condemned. With the introduction of DNA testing of evidence, over a hundred convicts on death row in the US were proven innocent and set free.

 

However, the death penalty for heinous crimes like child rape will preclude repentance and the child sex abuser will escape justice because the child will be reluctant to testify against him if he will be put to death on her word. This is especially true when the rapist is the biological father or the stepfather of the victim. The family of the child will pressure her not to testify. They will blame her for putting her and their father to death. He will go free and abuse many more children most likely. A research study will surely show that when there was death penalty in the Philippines before it was abolished in 2006, there were less convictions of child rapists. 

 

Besides, the death penalty deprives the accused, if truly guilty, of chance to repent and reform. Killing another degrades the sacred value of life and the dignity of human person.

 

With death squads killing people daily, Filipino lives are already degraded and life is so devoid of value. They are semi-official executioners, it seems, riding in tandem, on motorcycles. They shoot to kill and do so without fear of apprehension or accountability. The tough talk response against crime enforced by death squads and the death penalty and martial law in Mindanao conditions people to accept the inevitable, rule by the elite and the unabated destructive, exploitation of natural resources.

 

It curbs subversion. No matter how miserable are the lives of the six million people in extreme poverty or the other six million below the poverty line, they are intimidated and un-empowered to demand a more decent life of dignity. They will not rebel against those with the guns and the hangman's rope. It is no wonder then that there are surveys that place the president's approval rating at 80 percent.

 

It is a situation that sends a chill through all freedom-loving people. This creates a cloud of fear and subservience, a deterrent to protesting social injustice and demands for political reform. Prophetic voices denouncing corruption can be silenced. The democratic space to demonstrate, to exercise freedom of expression and active non-violent movements can be and are curtailed. However, President Rodrigo Duterte wants to reinstate the death penalty. The president said he wants to hang six people a day. In reference to the death penalty, he said, "Restore it and I will execute criminals every day- five or six. That's for real." Of course, he was just joking. The hit squad is quicker.

 

The death penalty law, if passed, will deter no one from committing crime but will damage the reputation of the Philippines as it will violate international treaties already entered into. Besides, it will deprive children of justice and allow child rapists to go free and abuse again. We must oppose it with all our strength.

To be a Good Person

The heart of good living is to be honest, to be a person of integrity, to feel compassion and concern for those worse off than yourself. You need self-discipline and to believe in and respect, as you respect yourself, the rights and dignity of every person.

The good person will support the poor and know that they are worthy of your concern and commitment to help. To believe that those who have less in life should have more in justice.

As the good person, you will reach out and act for justice, work for social inclusion and equality of all and practice what you believe through intelligent action. The good person will volunteer to help in the community, protect the vulnerable, lift up the downtrodden, respond to injustice, speak the truth, share your resources, and enlighten those in darkness. You will act to preserve the environment and protect the planet and do all without seeking rewards.

Read more on Matthew 25:34-40, Luke 10:25-37 and Luke 6:20-25.

Speaking the Truth

What greater duty does any person of integrity have than to speak the truth about that which is morally wrong, unjust and despicable? To speak one’s mind, to challenge injustice, abuse, exploitation, torture and the unlawful taking of life is a serious obligation. It is a constitutional right to do so supposedly without fear of retaliation and persecution. There is always the threat, fear and acts of retaliation against those brave and courageous people who speak the truth to power. History is full of heroes who were arrested, tried in a court, condemned, and put to death for speaking the truth, challenging injustice and oppression, taking a stand against what is clearly wrong and immoral.

When we look upon a crucifix we see there an innocent man that believed and practiced the great values of equality, rights of all, justice, truth, freedom and dignity of women and children. We see there a person who stood his ground. He taught the truth, healed the sick, championed the poor and challenged corrupt oppressive authorities. He was plotted against, betrayed, falsely accused of subversion, libel, and blasphemy. He was arrested, jailed, tortured and put on trial, wrongly condemned, and given the death penalty.

He is a person we can admire and imitate and those who are true believers in the values he taught and lived and died for will do likewise. They will proclaim the truth and oppose wrongdoing by individuals, groups, institutions or government. This is to follow that example and live out a courageous unselfish commitment.

Hundreds of people living out that commitment to justice have suffered. Many had their lives taken away or destroyed by the forces they challenged, questioned, and opposed while working for human rights and social justice. It is a privilege and honor to fight for justice and defend the right to life and dignity and to be persecuted for it.  

So the four Philippine bishops, several priests, a religious brother and lay people who are being charged with sedition and libel by the authorities can count themselves blessed and privileged to follow in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth. 

The National Catholic Reporter wrote, “Philippine authorities have filed sedition, cyber-libel, libel, and obstruction of justice charges against 36 people including the country's vice president and members of the opposition. Church leaders charged include Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, retired Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr. of Novaliches, Divine Word Fr. Flaviano Villanueva, Jesuit Fr. Albert Alejo, Fr. Robert Reyes, and Lasallian Br. Armin Luistro, former education secretary.”

They are all seen to have advocated the right to life and security and have spoken out in protest at the killing of many people by death squads and police raids on suspected drug users and dealers. However they are being charged with sedition, more or less as Jesus was.

He said to his disciples, “If the world hates you, you must remember that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, then the world would love you as its own. But I choose you from this world and you do not belong to it, this is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too.” Gospel of John 15:18-20.

The charges however are for libel, cyber libel, and sedition. This is how UCAN news reported it. “The charges stem from the release of a video that went viral on several social media platforms early this year that linked President Rodrigo Duterte and his family to the illegal drug trade.  A certain Peter Joemel Advincula claimed on a video and in a media briefing early this year that Duterte’s son, Paolo Duterte, and presidential aide Bong Go were involved in drug syndicates.”

Weeks later, however, he was presented at a press conference by the Philippine National Police where he claimed Vice President Leni Robredo, opposition members and several church people were behind a plot against the president. The complaint of obstruction of justice, which was filed, was supposedly based on information about a meeting between Advincula and the accused “despite them being clearly aware of Mr. Advincula being a fugitive from the law."

As UCAN reported:  “The complaint alleged that the crimes of inciting sedition, libel and obstruction of justice were committed inside Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University "wherein they planned to spread false information" against the president's family and administration officials. It said the accused aimed to "agitate the general population into staging mass protests with the possibility of bringing down the president.” Opposition senator Francis Pangilinan of the Liberal Party said the complaint smacked of "political harassment and persecution.”  The other accused are mostly staff members of the Liberal Party, lawyer Theodore Te of the Free Legal Assistance Group, and officials of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines,” UCAN said.

All the accused have filed their affidavits in response to the charges denying anything whatsoever to do with that video and the allegations it proposed. Other commentators observe  that it is an attempt to silence the criticism from the critical dissenting voices.

The presidential palace has distanced itself from the police action. "We have nothing to do with this case. Not at all," said Salvador Panelo, Duterte's spokesman. Others observe that the police charges brought before the prosecutor is ill-advised, as it will only hurt the president and his family by continually bringing before the public the baseless allegations by playing the outrageous videos over social media.

Whatever the outcome of the charges against the Church people, the outspoken bishops, priests and laity- one shocking thing is clear: there are so few bishops, priests and lay people speaking out. Many are asking, who else is standing up for human rights, besides these people and brave media people and rights advocates? Surveys show that the president is receiving 80 percent approval rates in surveys.   

Respect, Equality, Justice for Women and Children

It is two thousand and 19 years since the vital truth and principles of women’s and children’s rights and dignity were championed in the world. Today the struggle and campaigning for equality, rights, respect and human dignity of women goes on because the rights of women are not universally respected.

Despite laws to protect women and children, millions are still enslaved, abused, harassed, exploited and endure a lower status than men in many societies.They are quickly blamed for wrongdoing but the men are not. Many males are misogynists and consider themselves superior and entitled to dominate women.

The Story in the New Testament as told by John 8.1-11, was the inspired teacher, prophet, leader, that stood by an accused woman. He clearly objected to the humiliating revengeful threat to have the woman stoned to death, by asking who among the men accusing her, which of them had never sinned. They were ashamed of their guilt, dropped their stones, and left.  ”Where are they, woman, is there no one left to condemn you “? he asked  “No one Sir”. She answered.’ Well then, he said “I do not condemn you either…”

So respect, equality, justice and truth is what all people of good will need and deserve, especially women and children, we must strive to make that a reality.   

How to Respond to Child Sexual Abuse

The latest victims to be admitted to the Preda home for abused children are two sisters- five and three years old. The perpetrator is the children’s biological father, the live-in partner of their mother. The children complained of pain. The mother knew it was a crime. She rushed to the municipal social worker and reported the abuse. The social worker responded at once, recorded all information and brought the children for a medical examination that found lacerations, evidence of sexual abuse. Right away, she acted to file a case against the live-in partner and brought the children to the protection of the Preda home. The effective system to report abuse and have a quick response team worked well. It happened in Castillejos, Zambales.

The rising number of child victims of sexual abuse and incest is shocking, abhorrent, and very disturbing. The proliferation of child pornography on the internet made available on cell phones to everyone is causing child sexual abuse to spread rapidly. This heinous crime of child sexual abuse and child rape is everywhere. It is found in every country, in the home, in institutions, in churches, in schools, on the internet, in the street and in the sex bars and brothels. It is growing and yet few people are reporting such horrific crimes that are all around us every day.

It is a crime that most people never talk about. They ignore, deny, or cover up the truth. As a result, the vast majority of child sexual abuse crimes are never reported. So we can never know just how many victims there are suffering in silence. People reporting child abuse can remain anonymous.

The worldwide figure of child sexual abuse is one in every four children experience sexual abuse at least once in their lives. In the Philippines, as the statistics below indicates, it starts in the child’s family. A staggering high percentage are sexually abused by family members.   

We humans as a species and as members of so-called civilized society have much to answer for. Our species is the only one that sexually abuses and exploits their own offspring and on a horrific scale. Child trafficking is a huge business. It is estimated that at least 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide annually. Most of the victims are used for sexual gratification of the sex tourists. In developing countries like the Philippines, it is allowed to grow and thrive. Children are trafficked and abused in sex bars and also sexually exposed and abused on live camera transmitted by internet to foreign pedophiles. It surely induces them to come and do it in real life.

This industry, which operates with government permits and licenses, gives a clear message that young girls and children are fair game. It is like a carnival of sex abuse going on, with illegal drugs proliferating everywhere, ignored by the war-on-drugs. The girls are trapped in drug dependency and debt bondage.  

In the Philippines, there is no national database of the number of abused children. However, Unicef and Save the Children conducted a research study of child abuse in the Philippines in 2016 where 3,866 school children and youth were asked about child abuse. They were mostly from middle class backgrounds.

The final report estimated total prevalence of violence against children (in the study) among males was 81.5 percent and 78.4 percent among females. It said that about 17.1 percent of children aged 13 to 18 years experienced sexual violence while growing up and 13.7 percent experienced sexual abuse in the home. Among boys, 1.6 percent reported serious forced sexual acts against them and for girls 2.4 percent were seriously sexually assaulted.

The report also said “the prevalence of overall sexual violence in the school was 5.3 percent. About 3.3 percent mentioned that the incident of sexual violence happened when they were six to nine years; 9.9 percent when they were between 10-12 years of age, 22 percent at the time they were 13-15 years old, and 27.5 percent when they reached 16 to 18 years.”

These figures reflect a national problem and it needs an immediate emergency response. Three things are urgently needed: the first is preventive education. A cadre of permanent expert trainers that will implement a sustained program of community preventive education together with a team working the social media and mass media to get one message across. The message is that child abuse of all kinds is a serious crime and it must be reported. Parents and adults must have respect and affirming love for their children.    

The second response together with the first is a permanent legal team composed of a paralegal and a social worker in each municipality and more in each city. They work with the police to respond immediately to any and every report of child abuse and strictly implement the child protection law and bring the child to safety and hold the suspect abuser to accountability and justice.  

Thirdly, there is the urgent need to set up child therapeutic homes for the victims where they can be safe and protected from the abusers and his or her relatives. The homes must have trained psychologists and therapists and social workers to implement a complete holistic healing program to empower the child, heal the pain, and enable them to testify clearly and confidently.  

Without these three responses working together the problem will not be addressed or solved. Thousands of children will continue to be abused and we must not let that happen.  

For What Do They Live and Die?

 

Many people believe in some kind of “God,” that which they worship in their own way, which they make the priority of their actions, pursuing their God. It can be money, power, wealth, property, prestige, drugs, alcohol, pleasure, possession, domination, violence, abuse, control. These are their “Gods.”

 

They are not alone: they are members of a fraternity or a syndicate, a gang, a political clan, a military or police unit. They obey the code never to break the bond of silence. They will seldom spare anyone that stands in their way. Their “God” is first over all others. They have fanatics to help them fulfill their desires.

 

There are those that desire little, content with their lot in life, indifferent to social evil. They have no serious purpose in life; they have no goal to serve others beyond themselves and family. They are the indifferent “godless” who live in a state of apathy. The ruling elites encourage them in their mediocrity and unbelief.

 

There are those believing in the “God of wealth and prosperity.” They are highly educated but driven to succeed in business or in a profession. They are driven to pursue success, social status, comfort and yet without commitment to change society and bring about social justice. They strive to be an elite. Their “God” is themselves.

 

Then there are those like Neptali Morada. He believed in purpose, he desired goodness, he longed for a just society that would be free from oppression and exploitation of the vulnerable and the poor. He believed that change was possible even in a corrupt society ruled by a powerful elite.

 

He lived in hope and he, and many thousand of Filipinos like him, believe in the values of equality, justice and human dignity. He lived a life dedicated to these values. He was an active committed Christian. He lived out his belief and trust in Jesus of Nazareth and His teachings for he had found his “God.” He believed in the ‘power of one’ united with many more.

 

I say, was, because Neptali Morada, is now dead. He was assassinated, shot dead by gunmen last 17 June, 2019 in Naga city on his way to work. He was a member of the United Evangelical Church of Christ, a former coordinator of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines and chairman of the Federation of Christian Youth in the Philippines. He was a man of faith. He loved the truth, social justice, and spoke and worked for them. For this he was killed. The worshipers of other “Gods” could not allow him to live. His life and his “God” was a challenge to their wrongdoing. Their “Gods” were opposed to his.

 

Nardy Sabino, general secretary of the Promotion of Church People’s Response, said the killing of Morada was allegedly part of a "state-sponsored campaign to silence dissent." Daniel Kenji Muramatsu, spokesman of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, condemned the "senseless killing.” Neptali was not the only human rights worker murdered in June. Ryan Hubilla, 22, and Nelly Bagasala, 69, was shot dead last 15 June in Sorsogon. They too believed that if you pursue justice and goodness, you must act to help your neighbor to achieve a life of greater equality and peace.

 

Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said, “"We have every reason to believe that those who killed them are military death squads." 

 

On June 16, gunmen on motorbikes also shot Nonoy Palma, 57, a member of the Peasant Movement of the Philippines in Bukidnon province on the southern island of Mindanao. Dennis Sequena, a community worker and labor organizer, was shot dead in Cavite province on 2 June. He believed in the rights of the citizens to a life of dignity. He organized exploited workers, taught them their labor rights to get better working conditions and pay. He disturbed the system that rules and controls the poor and uses them to enrich their clan.

 

The sociologists and researchers say it seems that .0001 percent own 70 percent of the wealth in the Philippines. The rest of the 107 million must scramble for the leftovers. Many of the poorest of the poor eat “pagpag” to survive, the boiled scrapings of the restaurant dinner plates of the rich.

 

In 2015, statistics shows that 21.6 percent of the population lived below the poverty line. The Asian Development Bank says the causes are “low economic growth, a weak agricultural sector, increased population rates and a high volume of inequality.” This is changing but very slowly.

 

Statistics shows that around 3.6 million children from ages 5-17 are child laborers in the Philippines. Thousands of street children are jailed and abused, ignored by many local authorities (with some exceptions) that support the sex industry and jail children.

 

Human rights workers are an endangered species. There are many more killings of innocent people in this resource-rich country.

 

This is the Philippines- if one threatens the corrupt elite, they will eliminate that person. They know the “power of one” that is committed to the righteous “God,” for even one who believes in justice and equality can turn the world upside-down.

The Curse of Sex Tourism Part 2

Hundreds of thousands of young girls and boys are lured, forced or trafficked into the sex industry every day worldwide.  Human traffickers are the curse of the nation but they operate with relative impunity and sell the youth into the sex bars and clubs that are given government permits and operating licences. This makes the State part of the corrupt industry where drugs and sex dominate and young people are sold as commodities in a slave market for the wealthy sex tourists.

The behind-the-scenes reality of sex clubs is devastating. Provided with a bed in a crowded dormitory, usually at the back of the sex bar or club or hotel, as many as forty girls can be living in inhumane conditions. They have to pay for their accommodation and for their daily food. It is all marked up against their expenses and billed to them at a high price. Despite the vaunted war-on-drugs in the Philippines, the illegal drugs are everywhere in the sex tourist industry. The young girls are addicted or dependent and owe the pusher and can never escape, unless they take the risk of being arrested and charged with prostitution and drug use.

In sex tourism, young women are paid a basic wage for dancing. If a customer wants to have them for sex, the sex bar gets paid for that. It’s called a “bar fine.” The customer has to pay but the bar owner keeps most of the money. It is a lucrative business.

The freedom and impunity of the sex industry in the tourist belt is a very bad precedent. Some local men are influenced by it and abuse their own children. The children run to the streets and end up in sex bars. It’s a vicious circle of abuse and exploitation. 

Money is king. The tourism industry is one of the biggest money earners in most developing economies but the fact is that it is seldom reported upon, investigated or exposed by the media. The church too is silent about the corrupt industry. Though some think sex tourism is confined to red light districts, it is there in beach resorts and fancy tourist hotels.

  

I was sitting in the lobby of a posh hotel in Manila waiting for some journalists.  A waiter approached me. “Sir, can I get you a drink?” he asked politely. “Just coffee, thanks,” I replied. He continued, “You are alone and it is getting to evening. Do you want anything else sir?” I thought he was referring to me having a meal. “You seem to be alone, would you like me to arrange a companion for you?” I was immediately alert. What was this offer in a four-star tourist hotel? I decided to play along and find out. “Oh, really, can you arrange that?” I asked. “How young would you like?” he asked. “How young can you provide?” I asked him. “Well, sir, it depends on how much you are willing to pay. A twelve-year-old will cost six thousand pesos.”

I was really shocked at this: a twelve-year-old child was offered to a foreign-looking tourist right in the hotel lobby! I realized I should have recorded it on my cell phone. I answered, “No, no, not now. If I want anything more, I will contact you.” When I tried to have him arrested for human trafficking and pimping minors, he had disappeared. The hotel staff tipped him off most likely.  However, it was strong evidence that this sex tourism pervades hotels and resorts.

  

Sex tourism is here to stay but we should never condone, tolerate and stop opposing it and helping the victims. It seems to be government-supported or at least tolerated as a normal part of human life. Though many condemn the human exploitation of women and minors, the trade in sex tourism flourishes. Non-government organizations continue to campaign to curb the abuse of children that are in the sex tourism industry.

The PREDA Foundation, for example, has in recent months received more than twenty rescued victims aged between 14 and 17 years, all of them lured and coerced into brothel hotels and tourist resorts. It gives shelter and therapy to as many as 63 children at times.  After the rescue, they told of their harrowing experiences of being sexually abused and exploited. They are recovering with the help of Emotional Release Therapy at the PREDA Home for Girls at present.

   

But thousands more remain in the sex tourist industry and are at grave risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and being subjected to brutality and rape. The PREDA Foundation has prosecuted several foreigners and local tourists and abusers on behalf of the victims in past years. Some foreign child sex abusers retaliate and harass the Preda advocates and social workers with baseless complaints. But they stand their ground and defeat the sex abusers.

  

Preda supports legal action for the child victims so justice will be done. There is success with eight convictions being won on average per year. In 2018, sixteen child abusers were found guilty and received life sentences for child sexual abuse. By May 2019, Preda legal action saw eight more child sex abusers convicted. More are expected. So there is hope that justice can be done for many more victims.

The foreign sex tourists that abuse youngsters in developing countries will become dependent upon and addicted to underage sex. They will return to their own countries with a strong appetite for it and will abuse many more children there. That is another curse of the sex tourism business.

Governments need to provide alternatives for young people. All operating permits and licenses must be cancelled. More educational opportunities and support for the very poor - especially girls - and dignified work for adults must be provided to end the cruel, dehumanizing sex tourist industry.  Taking a principled stand for the victims of sex tourism and challenging a society to accept and live out the spiritual and human values of the Christian gospel - especially by respecting the rights of all to a life of freedom from poverty, oppression, and injustice - must be a priority for all the faithful.  

The Curse of Sex Tourism Part 1

 

The depravity of human nature reveals itself in the most shocking way as sex tourism. This phenomenon has become a government-supported and encouraged form of personal and national income generation in many countries that exploits and abuses millions of people around the world.

 

Currently, almost half a million people in the Philippines specifically, and many more in other nations, work in the huge sex tourist industry that annually generates several billion US dollars. Yet, the human suffering experienced is incalculable. Millions of lives are broken, damaged, and destroyed.

 

The sex tourist industry is a highly organized money-making business. Behind its growth is the demand of middle-aged and older men who cannot find sexual satisfaction in their own countries and travel abroad seeking gratification with young, vulnerable and impoverished girls. These men tend to be divorced, widowed or unmarried, or isolated from their wives or partners. Many of them have no regard for the dignity of women and young girls, seeing them as objects to be bought and used for their personal pleasure. There is no apparent concern for the victims of sex tourism.

 

Thousands of the exploited young women are uneducated and unwanted by their penniless families. Unless they can earn by being commercially sexually exploited, they have no value. Indeed, their sexual commoditization is their only value. Their human dignity, importance, and rights are totally disregarded.

 

The worth of these women is lessened by the vast sums of money generated by sex tourism for politicians and tycoons. The police are in on the game, too. The sole motive is the satisfaction of their greed, selfishness and depravity. Many also have their own young, underage mistresses and sex slaves.

 

The human cost is enormous. The dignity of the victims is violated, their rights to a decent life, to education and a career, are all denied them. A nation that sells its young people to tourists, domestic and international, is despicable. It is a tarnished, corrupt society that allows the domination of the lives of millions of vulnerable young people worldwide.

 

Sex tourism is not really tourism. It is really a form of modern sex slavery as the perpetrators and wrong-doers exploit the young. The abusive encounters between sex tourists and young women are truthfully more about power, control, and domination, manifesting a sadistic desire to own and abuse the lives of another. Such ascendency by a sex tourist over a weaker person may be compensation for his or her own inner character weakness. Perhaps, it makes up for feelings of being rejected in their own families or communities. Whatever its source, the abuse is criminal behavior and everyone who abuses a woman or a minor ought to be brought to justice.

 

The extreme poverty of the families out of which these young women come is undoubtedly the reason  for their involvement in the sex tourism industry. Without resources, access to education is slim and so, these rural or slum-dwelling women are compelled to do anything to earn money for food. It is about survival, it is about staying alive. Like hunter-gatherers, from dawn to dusk, they scavenge for money, or anyway else they can lay their hands on, to get enough to buy a cup of rice and some vegetables or eat pagpag, the re-cooked scrapings from the plates of restaurants.

 

Minors in the sex tourist industry are oftentimes victims of sexual abuse in their own home: abused by relatives, neighbors or even their own biological fathers. These young girls have no alternative but to run away for their own survival. Their available choices are to be on the streets or to go with a "recruiter." Once under the power of the sex tourism recruiter—who provides money, food and accommodation—they are sold to brothels, sex bars or clubs in the neon-lit sex strips of cities from Johannesburg to London to Manila. There is no end to their exploitation.

 

Not only are the Philippines, South Africa or the mega-brothels of Europe notorious for sex tourism and the human destruction it brings with it, these governments and societies must be held responsible for the pain and hardship that afflict the lives of the youth, many of them underage children. Sex tourism has created a wonderland of child sex, aided and abetted by the societies that are supposed to protect and nurture these children.

 

Sex tourism destroys the purpose and fabric of society. The dignity of women, youth and children is downgraded by the people who operate and allow the sex tourist industry to thrive and grow. They see the young as bodies for sale. They do not treat them as individual persons with hearts and souls, feelings, ambitions and hopes for a brighter, happier future.

 

The traffickers are human traders who broker lives and sell them to whoever is willing to pay a large sum to rape and abuse a child in a hotel room, without fear of retribution or responsibility to the law or human dignity.

 

Impunity is the attraction. Prostitution is illegal in the Philippines and in other countries, yet it thrives. The sex bars and clubs are protected by police and politicians, many of whom are club owners themselves.

 

Once, I went to rescue some children trapped in debt bondage in a tourist hotel frequented by foreign sex tourists. Posing as a customer, I asked the manager in a quiet undertone, nodding towards a small stage where six teenagers each clad in a tiny bikini were gyrating in a languid manner on a pole: "Is it safe here to have one of those young girls?" "Oh sir," the manager answered, "you don't have to worry, here you are completely safe and protected". "Oh really? "Why is that so?" I answered. "But this place is owned by a police officer," he said. The system is corrupt in its exploitation of young women.

 

People tend to blame the young girls for being lured into the dirty business of exploitation and abuse but it is the apathy and indifference of the public that is past of the exploitation. There is no church or public outcry against it. It is tolerated and thousands of young people suffer, lives destroyed and a once proud nation is prostituted.

Child Sexual Abuse in the Institutional Church

There are serious and profound changes taking place in the Catholic Church to acknowledge and prevent child sexual abuse by clerics and lay people, to prosecute the perpetrators and to heal the victims. It is the belated result of generations of historical clerical child sexual abuse and the denial and cover up of their crimes by some bishops and cardinals around the world. It has become a crisis for the church as an institution.

Pope Francis has approved recently a new law to protect child victims and prosecute any clerical suspects accused in the Vatican State. Before this, there was no such law protecting children in the Vatican. It is a model for others and is a zero-tolerance law. Every complaint of child abuse must be reported and investigated immediately.   

In the Philippines, the arrest and detention of a American Father Kenneth Hendricks ,78, in Naval, a town in Biliran province last December 5,2018 for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of boys has focused attention on the culture of silence, cover up and inaction by fellow clergy, officials and Catholic townspeople. 

The alleged crimes were first reported to the US authorities who carried out a quiet investigation and filed charges against Hendricks in Ohio where a judge issued an arrest warrant. 

The fact that no local people dared accuse the priest despite local knowledge and complaints by several alleged victims indicates the fear of retribution of going up against a priest of the Catholic church. That era of fear and impunity is coming to a close in many countries but not yet in the Philippines. 

Most cases of child sexual abuse by clergy are rarely exposed and Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle says they are investigated internally. So no civil punishment for the abusers and no justice for the victims. Impunity reigns it seems and that will have to change.  

For some Catholics, the worldwide shame and widespread history of clerical child abuse has weakened and challenged their faith and some have even left the Church. The non-abusing clergy are deeply ashamed by the terrible crimes against children that many of them allowed to happen either by their ignorance, inaction or silence. They were afraid or ashamed to report a fellow priest and cowardly to protect the child victim. That silence is a form of consent. Now, dioceses have strict rules and regulations to report child abuse and prosecute the offender in civil courts.

Are we shocked by the serious wrongdoing by clergy, bishops and cardinals around the world? They are supposed to give good example of Christian living by a life of virtue, a love of justice and protecting children. But many of them have failed. Is our faith shaken, weakened and rendered useless? For some, the answer is yes but for others, no. Because their faith is not primarily belief in the Church as a human institution but in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and his Gospel values.

It is a time of challenge for all us Christian Catholics and especially bishops and priests to examine our faith and ask if it is faith in the person of Jesus and if we have a personal relationship with him. Do we have a strong commitment to his simple but profound teaching?

Is our faith in his moral principles, in the human dignity of every person? Do we believe and live out his values on social justice, human rights, compassion and love and especially in the innocence and protection of the child and the stranger? Does our faith express itself daily in action for justice and protection of the child and the stranger? If it doesn’t, then as St.James says, our so-called faith is dead. (Letter of James 2:26) 

The Church as founded by Jesus is a community. It is the People of God, all believers and non-believers of good-will gathered in the one faith and practice of what Jesus has taught and done and which we are called upon to imitate and follow his principled way of life.

As an institution, the Church is a human creation with a hierarchy, a chain of command, a bureaucracy, a system of law, discipline, rules and regulations and a sacramental practice from which we are told salvation flows. But faith in action is what brings us closer to Jesus Christ in daily life.

This institutional, very human Church has in many incidents betrayed Jesus and his teachings. From Chile, to Brazil, to the United States, Ireland, France, UK, Germany, Austria and elsewhere scandals of child sexual abuse and other serious failings of clergy and bishops are evident. Some have failed to listen to victims and respond immediately. They have failed to have compassion and care for child victims and get healing and justice for them.  Some priests and bishops hid the crimes, transferred priests, allowing them to abuse children again. That is a crime in itself.

Many bishops have resigned for their failure to act according to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 18: 1-8. Jesus says a child is the most important in the Kingdom of God, not the adults. That kingdom is here on earth. Justice must be delivered for the child victim and Jesus said that a symbolic mill stone be tied around the neck of a convicted abuser and he or she be thrown into the ocean. Strong words indeed, yet Jesus underlines the innocence of children and how serious it is to abuse them. To accept and protect one is to accept him. That is why healing and justice are so important for victims of abuse.