The Abusers
Document Title: The Abusers
Document Ref No: R9010011
First Published: Reflections - Philippine Daily Inquirer
Publication Date: October 1st 1990
Author's Name: Father Shay Cullen SSC
From all the children that we at PREDA, in the Childhood For Children project,
come to know, and be friends with, we learn that their most frequent and
most brutal abusers are their own parents.
The abuse we learn about is physical, sexual and verbal.
The children have been beaten, shouted at, threatened, some hung upside
down by the leg, others tied up smeared with jam and left to ants. Others
have been beaten with rope and sticks.
Almost all the children have begun a working life before the age of ten.
They have been deprived of a normal childhood, schooling, affirmation encouragement
and support.
Some have been sexually molested by their parents. In these cases usually
a case of attempted incest. But uncles, cousins and neighbors have been
among the abusers.
The abuse outside the home comes from tourists and sailors. Children have
been used by pimps. Usually they are hired out by tourists, brought to a
room in a night club or hotel and made to make sexual play with the "client".
Other clients like to do sexual acts to the children. Some use sexual instruments
on the bodies of the children. In some cases this results in death like
the case of Rosario Baluyot in Olongapo.
Others want to video the act and others prefer to have two children do sexual
acts to each other.
The tourists come mostly from Europe (excluding the US Sailors) and are
usually well off, married and with children of their own. Profile studies
of pedophiles say the average number of their children is two.
They sometimes influence the parents of the children like in Pagsanjan town,
South of Manila. They give money and expensive gifts, TVs, Videos, motorcycles
etc. They may even build a house in the town for the parents and reserve
a room there for their special visits.
Some foreign pedophiles are very well connected and have positions in industry
and politics. They use their wealth and power to practice abuse on children.
They set up so called "fake" development projects to "help"
the children go to school, or give projects to the parents.
The parents then become their partners in the abuse that follows.
Some foreign pedophiles arrange with bribes and corrupt practices to get
the children out of the country and abuse them in another county. One recent
case was in Norway.
A few Travel agents are involved in this and make contacts and reservations
for the clients in the Philippines. Some pedophiles come to live in the
Philippines for long periods of time and they invite their friends, send
them photos of children and keep records of the children who are already
seduced. They also make videos to send to their friends showing child abuse
taking place.
Some local government officials who own hotels and clubs profit from this
trade in child abuse. They are intolerant of critics and threaten and harass
child care workers.
In our experience they try to close our center and stop our advocacy for
children. (see TIME Magazine, 1 October 1990, about PREDA Center, Olongapo
City )
