80th Birthday Celebration of Fr. Shay Cullen, Founder of the Preda Foundation, Inc.

80th Birthday Celebration of Fr. Shay Cullen, Founder of  the Preda Foundation, Inc.

The Preda Foundation Family celebrated the 80th birthday of the founder Father Shay Cullen, a Columban missionary from Ireland who came to the Philippines in 1969, that is 53 years ago. He was assigned to St. Joseph’s Parish and he witnessed the social injustice in Olongapo City. The youth, boys and girls were exploited and lured into the drug and sex trade that was flourishing beside the US naval base on Subic Bay.

The sex industry was the only industry for people who did not work in the US naval base. The Filipino values were eroded, broken homes were many and aids, drug abuse, alcoholism, human trafficking and child abuse were common.

He decided got build a home for the youth to save them from the police death squads under the Marcos regime. This was the first Preda Home that opened in 1974 and by 1996 he opened a home for sexually abused children. Girls from 5 to 16 years old were protected and helped and began a legal action against the child abusers and sex mafia. With the children testifying strongly after they recovered through the Emotional Release Therapy they fought for justice, freedom and human rights and win convictions up to 21 convictions a year as in 2020.

Fr. Shay discovered in 1983 a group of 18 young children 6 to 15 sexually abused and suffering from venereal disease in a charity clinic that was under a news blackout by the Mayor. The children were hidden in a hospital room and he visited them. He learned they were abused by US sailors and local abusers and exposed it in the media. The city wanted to deport him for exposing the crimes against children and embarrassing the city and the US navy. Fr. Shay won his case and founded three more homes for children.

He started a campaign to close the US Bases and convert them to commercial zones. That was a great vision, a powerful ten year campaign and was a big success.

Preda is growing today and is helping a thousand children ever year. His goal is to live to be 100 years of age.

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