The Philippine Senate finally approved the final draft of Senate Bill (SB) 2332, or An Act Increasing the Age for Determining Statutory Rape and other Acts of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation to Protect Children, on September 27.
This law is historic and vital to the protection of children and the prosecution of child rapists who molest children every day with impunity. It has repealed the penal code that made it legal to have sex with children as young as 12-years-old. Now it is a criminal act of statutory rape to have sex with a 16-year-old child or younger. A convicted offender faces a possible sentence of life in prison on the credible testimony of the victim.
This law is a powerful deterrent and provides greater protection for vulnerable children. Child rights advocates have been campaigning for this change for decades, Preda Foundation among them, and finally a day of victory for children.
There are many child protection laws in the Philippines and worldwide. United States laws cover crimes against children committed by its citizens in the Philippines or any country abroad. European Union countries need to have a similar law.
We need to ask ourselves, why are such laws necessary? While the vast majority of humans love and respect children, millions don’t. It seems that humans, the species with intelligence, are the only one that sexually abuse their own children. There is a deep moral flaw and inclination to evil in human nature and awareness about it among adults and children. It is the first important line of protection. We all have to watch out for them and know that pedophiles and abusers are abusing their own children because they can. It is so easy for a family member to intimidate and abuse a child and then get a child to say she “consented’ with the words, “yes po [yes sir/ma’am].”
Without help a child would be unable to testify in court against her family about incestuous rape. Family intimidation would traumatise them. Few cases are reported, fewer come to court. That is why child sexual abuse has become almost the norm, but most people have a mental block to admitting that fact.
We must remember that in a 2015 National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children, one in every five children in the Philippines in the age bracket of 13 to 17 said they experienced sexual violence while one in 25 suffered from forced consummated sex during childhood.
Child abuse is common everywhere throughout the world. Surveys show that one in three children worldwide are victims of sexual abuse and one in six boys are abused and raped. The majority of victims bury that anger and pain inside all their lives. It can and does distort a normal life and lead to many psychological traumas and even explodes in anger and violence.
Child abuse is common everywhere throughout the world. Surveys show that one in three children worldwide are victims of sexual abuse and one in six boys are abused and raped. The majority of victims bury that anger and pain inside all their lives. It can and does distort a normal life and lead to many psychological traumas and even explodes in anger and violence
Parents and guardians must never leave their child alone with an outsider no matter how kind, helpful, generous and caring he or she is or appears to be. They must follow that rule at all times. Wise men will never be alone with a child who is not their own.
When you see the emotional pain and hurt endured by child victims, you will understand how much they suffer, most without relief. Preda Emotional Release Therapy can be seen here: https://youtu.be/G0fFNmHSYic
Paula was a 14-years-old, vulnerable, helpless and under the control of her family. When her father, brother and her father’s drinking buddy began to sexually abuse her, she was overwhelmed and could not escape or run away. She could not fight back and they persuaded her it was normal, that they loved her.
“It’s okay, let us do it,” they said. They presumed her silence to be consent, so much so that they also sexually abused her sister, Maria. They had a homegrown brothel-for-free. Fear of punishment meant they felt they had no way to complain. They never did give consent. They hated every act. Years later, when Paula was allowed to become a domestic helper, she told her employer about what she had endured.
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
That good woman contacted the Preda Foundation and an investigation was begun. Paula and Maria were rescued and joined the Preda family. They are now free from their abusers and undergoing therapy and getting an education. They are empowered enough to file charges, with the help of the Preda paralegal officer, against their abusive family members.
Now, the abusers will pay the consequences if justice is done and seen to be done. The change in the age of consent law will put many more abusers behind bars where they cannot abuse any more children.
Inexplicably, we ask why in 90 years of a male-dominated Congress, the congressmen never considered changing the penal law that placed children as young as 12 in constant danger of abuse and gave impunity to the pedophiles?
We have to conclude that some of them agreed with a majority of pedophiles in the world that it is just okay to have sex with 12-year-old children. It is only since more strong women have come into power in the Philippine Congress that this bad abusive law has been changed.
The Preda team participated in the focus group discussions organised by the University of the Philippines’ Gender Law and Policy Programme that advised the senators and we are happy the law has been passed. May it have a swift passage in the bicameral legislature.
Father Shay Cullen
www.preda.org
shaycullen@gmail.com
