Philippine News Digest 50

Contents:

• Child abuser sentenced to life in prison
• Children voice opposition to US war on Iraq
• Global sex trafficking fast growing

Child abuser sentenced to life in prison

Antonio Munton, 51 years old, a resident of Quezon City was sentenced to a life in prison by Judge Natividad Giron-Dizon Thursday February 27 for statutory rape after four years of trial. The complaint was filed by Mary (not her real name) who was seven years old at the time the offense was committed. She is under the custody of PREDA Foundation receiving therapy and affirmation from social workers and fellow survivors of abuse.

Mary bravely testified in open court on August 29, 2001 and told the judge of the ordeal she suffered under her stepfather. According to her, Munton would wait until she “fell asleep and then he will put off the light and then I will feel that there is somebody on top of me.” She would then feel that “he would insert his private organ in my private part.” She positively identified Munton as her abuser when asked to point who abused her.

Children voice opposition to US war on Iraq

Several multisectoral organizations, including the PREDA Foundation and AKBAY (Olongapo-Zambales Youth Organization), trooped to the Quirino Grandstand in Manila February 28 to protest the impending US-led war on Iraq. The children and youth of PREDA and AKBAY numbering almost 50 carried banners asking officials to “use brains rather than war to solve the Iraq crisis.” A streamer calls on all authorities to “make peace for the sake of children worldwide” who are the first to be affected in case of a war.

Global sex trafficking fast growing

Global sex trafficking is a fast-growing business of $7-billion where as many as four million women and children are sold, kidnapped or coerced into a life of sexual servitude annually, according to organizers of the “Pathbreaking Strategies in the Global Fight Against Sex Trafficking”. It is so lucrative that estimates show it will outstrip the illicit trade in guns and narcotics in this decade. These women and girls are spirited into countries whose language they do not speak, increasing their vulnerability and isolation as they are repeatedly raped, beaten and drugged while clients are forced upon them as frequently as every thirty minutes. Source: Agence France Press report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 27 February 2003.