Jennifer (not her real name) was only 12-years-old when an adult neighbour, a 37-years-old man in a small town raped her. He convinced her that he loved her. She was frightened and warned not to complain or tell anyone otherwise bad things would happen to her and to her mother. Jennifer became the man’s child sex slave. His friends raped her too. The child was traumatised and brainwashed with fear and told no one.
After four years of fear, stress, pain and trauma, she broke down and told her mother of her years of sex slavery to the men. The mother immediately filed criminal charges and asked the Preda Foundation to protect and help her child. Jennifer has now been rescued by Preda social workers and is safe from the abuser’s threats.
From many similar cases, we learn of the suffering and fear of these abused children. We learn how they have been forced, pressured, brainwashed and seduced by adults into being sexually exploited. In the Preda homes, they receive, free of charge, a quality life in community and receive healing, therapy, education and legal assistance.
When the Philippine Congress passes the new bill making 16 the age of consent, such acts by the 37-year-old man will be statutory rape.
At present, it will have to be proven in a court of law that Jennifer had been forced with either violence, intimidation, deceit, monetary consideration or overwhelming fear into participating in the sex acts. Otherwise, the abuser could claim under the present law that she had consented and he would get away with it as many have.
The law that sets the age of sexual consent at 12 years of age was made by men and almost no women. It favours the predatory male. It is a disgraceful and shameful law. The Philippines has one of the lowest ages of consent anywhere in the world.
That is now about to change as women members of the Philippine Congress are driving for change. The rare conviction of a congressman, Romeo Jalosjos, on 12 December 1997 for sexually abusing an 11-year-old child saw child sex abuse even in the Congress. It set in motion the call to change the law on the age of consent.
The ruling elite protect their own it seems, but in this case of Jalosjos, public opinion and the Supreme Court ruled in favour of conviction and his appeal failed. He received two life sentences on two counts of statutory rape and six counts of acts of lasciviousness. But that was commuted to 16 years by executive order of then president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and he walked out of prison in 2009.
Since his conviction, it has taken 23 years of congressional stalling, blocking and, in effect, denying 10 house bills stating that a child of 12 cannot freely give consent to a sexual act with an adult.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
Congress has failed to do much to ensure that the laws it passes are implemented. One of several examples is Republic Act (RA) 9775 that demands the telecommunications corporations, with their Internet Service Providers (ISPs), like PLDT/Smart and Globe Telecom to block child pornography and live streaming of child sexual abuse online to proliferate in the Philippines and abroad.
They are in gross, prolonged violation of the Anti-child Pornography Law RA 9775 passed in 2009. They need to install Microsoft PhotoDNA and VideoDNA software to detect, block and identify the abusers for police to arrest them here or abroad, but they apparently resist this.
It has taken many years of immoral collusion to keep the age of consent from binge raised from 12 to 16-years-old. That is soon to change. A congressional joint committee led by women has approved a change in the law so that any adult who has sexual intercourse with a child 16-years-old and below will be charged with statutory rape even if the adult claims the child gave consent.
When passed, legal history will be made to end this shameful sham of the present law that in effect allows child sexual abuse. The Philippine Congress must pass this proposed important law without further delay. However, it is necessary to include a provision on close-in-age exception to protect young people from being labelled sex offenders for having consensual sex with their peers.
Teenagers of similar ages who engage in a sex act should be excluded since teenage sex is a common occurrence and the law, if passed without a close-in-age exception, can be abused by parents of a girl who do not like her boyfriend. They can and do unjustly file rape charges against the boy to break up the relationship. This is a common practice at present.
The spread of the child pornography without control by the ISPs is fanning the flames of lust, debauchery, paedophilia and child rape, sex-slavery and abuse such as the most recent case of three boys aged nine, 10 and 12 years of age who forced themselves on a nine-year old girl.
That child is traumatised and has vaginitis as a result. Reportedly, the boys had been watching child pornography on a smart phone that set them on the path of child sexual abuse. One day, they could be paedophiles.
What a sick society it is where ISPs allow the streaming of child sex on their servers and millions of horrific child pornography images and videos without having effective blocking software? Even three-year-old children have been sexually abused online.
Hand-wringing, lamenting and gasping in horror is useless. We have to take action and encourage government and the public to challenge the giant telecommunication corporations send them e-mails and condemn their dereliction of duty to protect children and implement the law.
We must work to promote the passing of just laws and rally for the implementation of the rule of law and bring down those who put themselves above it.
Don’t be silent, speak out, be a defender of children and their rights.
Father Shay Cullen
www.preda.org
