Irish priest lifts lid on Philippines’ sordid tourist trade-
where kids are sold for sex
An irish priest is about to blow the whistle
on the horrific child sex trade in the Philippines.
Renowned campaigner Fr. Shay Cullen took an under cover camera team
with him when he tried to “buy” child
prostitutes from ruthless oimps in the sex dens of Manila.
Secret footage shows the Columban missionary chatting to “sex tourists”
including men from Ireland who traveled to the Far East for their evil
gratification.
The cameras also followed the dedicated 58-year children’s rights
campaigner as he trawled Irish bars like Molley Malone’s and The Shamrock-
notorious vice dens aimed at the growing number of sex visitors from
northern and southern Ireland.
On stage young girls in skimpy bikinis dance provocatively, waiting for
customers to pay the 15 euro per hour “bar fine” to take them away for sex.
The shocking footage is to be shown for the first time on Irish TV this
week- and looks set to stun the nation.
Fr. Cullen has spent the last 30 years fighting the evil child sex
trade in his adopted country.
Pimps
He has been nominated for the Nobel
Peace Prize an incredible three times and has received plaudits from
countries around the world.
But this is the first he has let an Irish film crew follow him as he
goes about his daily business of hunting down evil pimps.
The cameras watch as he tries to set up a sting operation with a woman
pimp so he can save two children she is trying to sell. An undercover police
team is nearby.
“the kids are usually locked up in a house somewhere and our only hope
of getting them is if she brings them out,” says Fr. Cullen.
But after setting up a meeting the woman becomes suspicious and gives a
secret sign to a watcher who takes the children away.
But another pimp nearby is not so cautious and bring the priest, who is
pretending to be a tourist, to meet two young girls.
The man is immediately arrested and the girls taken into custody.
“Sometimes, I see kids like this and I feel how privileged my liofe has
been,” says the priest from Glenageary. Co.Dublin.
“There is nothing in their lives and you wonder what has happened to
them already. They were probably raped at a very young age and forced into
prostitution. Their lives has been devastated.
“If children are not rescued quickly, it becomes very hard to save
them.
“When they have been abused continually for a long time, they are
almost beyond hope.
“They have been brainwashed and can’t imagine any other life because
this is all they have ever done.
“They have been told the outside world is dangerous and the only good
people are those who give them money- the pimps. Their minds have been
turned inside out.”
It is estimated that a staggering 100,000 children are forced to work
as prostitutes in the Philippines, a country where 40 percent of the 77
million population live below the poverty line.
“These women and children have been turned into commodities that are
bought and sold. They are like cattle in the market,” he says.
“it is a huge industry and we are not going to stop it. But we can
speak out for the women and children who are victims and try to exert
political pressure on the government to do something about it.”
Fr. Cullen took up his cause three decades ago after being offered a
young child for sex on the street.
“But it took time top realize what was going on. It was only years
later in 1983 that I discovered by chance that there was a syndicate that
was selling kids to the US navy people nearby.”
Some nuns brought a group of children aged just six to nine To Fr.
Cullen and they were suffering from gonorrhea.
Fellow Columban priest Fr. Niall O’Brien said: “Everyone wondered how
could this be but then it gradually emerged they were victims of some sort
of sex ring operating from the US base.
“Shay moved into that world and became aware of the child abuse that
was going on. He vowed to close that huge naval base.
Enemies
These huge ships unloaded 20,000 men
at a time into villages looking for entertainment- and many of them had
AIDS.
“Shay played a significant part in getting the Philippine Senate to
vote for the removal of this base.
“There are thousands of children who owe their happiness to Shay. His
heart is in the right place, his work is in the right place and his energy
is in the right place.”
But the priest has made numerous enemies, particularly among those
making fortunes from the sick child sex industry.
Fr. Cullen even faced the death penalty after being accused of raping a
child himself- a charge that was eventually dismissed. Fifty-four of the
sixty one cases against him have been thrown out so far.
He says: “We have been accused of slander, child abuse, kidnapping-
every three weeks there is a new charge. But this is an occupational hazard.
“It is a dangerous game. These people are not acting alone but have
politicians behind them. They have people financing their legal cases
against me.
“It is a classic stand-off between good against evil.
“We are not popular for trying to get the sex trade out in the open.
They would prefer to hide the truth about child sex abuse.”
The documentary, true Lives: Fr. Shay Cullen- Taking a Stand, reveals
how the priest has helped police in Britain and Germany to track down
pedophiles and even a child killer with his investigative work.
He has also set up a successful center for abuse victims and helped to
launch numerous businesses which help Filipinos to beat the poverty trap,
the root cause of prostitution.
Jim Gallagher
Sunday People
28 April 2002
