Scant Justice for Sex-Abused Filipino Children
The Universe
(February 01, 2004)
IT was a shock for me to read the headline “Republic of the Philippines to deport US deserter” and to see there the name of the accused sex trafficker that we are prosecuting for forcing children into prostitution.
The report said that the Philippine immigration authorities arrested Thomas Glenn Jarrell, 34, of Cincinnati in a nightclub in Angeles City because the US had issued an arrest warrant for him for deserting. The US is requesting his repatriation but what they have to respect is the Philippine jurisdiction to continue the criminal proceedings against him for abusing children.
Four of these children were trafficked and sexually exploited in the sex club managed by Jarrell and his Australian partner who is also charged. The four children are presently in the PREDA therapeutic community and have recovered sufficiently to give evidence in court against Jarrell and cohorts..
Too frequently in the past, foreign sex tourists, sex bar operators and pedophiles escape scot-free by opting for ‘voluntary deportation’. This seems to be a cosy arrangement by which the suspects can bribe their way out of criminal prosecution. When they go back to their own country, they never loose their appetite to have sex with children. In fact it has been whetted. No child is safe from them anywhere.
The justice system in the Philippines leaves much to be desired. While there are many family court judges who are sensitive and understanding of the plight of the child, many are careless and lack compassion. There are many children who never get inside the courtroom to testify against their abuser.
Sometime, the child’s own mother and relatives conspire to protect the abuser and obstruct justice, especially of he is the father and earner. The child is branded as a liar and is discriminated against.
This week, we discovered two 15 year-old twins who had been sold to a pimp by their own mother. One we rescued, the other is still out there trafficked to another club. We will find her and get the pimp to prison. The mother will have to answer for her crime too.
The police are notoriously corrupt and the offenders pay them not to serve arrest warrants. This means the cased is archived and the child is terrified of going home.
Government prosecutors are frequently unprepared, incompetent and absent. Their resistance to offered bribes is breathtakingly low. All of us working together in faith and hope can make a difference and one day the system will change and more justice for abused children will be done.
