BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
THE PROTECTION of children from harm and especially sexual abuse is the prime responsibility of every parent and every adult especially those with moral and legal responsibility in Church and State.
Readers have responded positively to the previous article expressing relief and thanks that an alleged child rapist priest was arrested and hopefully will be charged with child sex abuse in court. The child victim was 15 years old when she was allegedly first abused by him.
According to the testimony of the child victim, this priest videotaped the sex abuse of the child several times and threatened to post them on social media that would instill fear, intimidate and control the child.
The priest admits the sexual acts but he claims it was consensual. The victim denies that. The videos used to blackmail her make that a useless defense. Republic Act 11930 otherwise known as the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Act says in Section 5: “Effect of Consent of the Victim. — The consent of the victim is not material or relevant and shall not be available as a defense in the prosecution of the unlawful acts prohibited under this Act.”
He is one of the very few priests ever charged in court in the Philippines of child abuse and not one has ever been convicted or gone to prison. Priests enjoy total impunity, it seems. That is an invitation for them to continue abusing children and more to do so.
Such is the power of the Church as an institution. It is able to protect child abusers and allows the victims to suffer and intimidate government officials in allowing out-of-court settlements.
Over a dozen complaints of child sexual abuse against Filipino priests have been filed with prosecutors in recent years but all have been settled privately or dismissed by the prosecutors.
There are seven priests serving today in various dioceses that fled child abuse allegations or convictions in the United States and sought refuge here. As Cardinal Antonio Tagle said on two television interviews, including HardTalk on the BBC, the Church considers child abuse an internal matter and deals with it privately. Pope Francis disagrees. Suspects should be turned over to the civil authorities as crimes may have been committed.
Defenders of children applaud the revelation of the truth about this case, painful as it is to the victim and the community. It is only the truth that will alert and warn people that child abusers can be anybody and abuse anytime, anywhere. Everyone must be protective of children.
Priests and bishops like everyone else can be sinners and must be held responsible like everyone else for crimes against children. There must be no impunity, deference or special protection for them. The law applies equally to all and when the evidence is compelling and convincing, the punishment must follow the law.
Posting child abuse images to blackmail or intimidate victims is one of the worst negative uses of the social media. Internet-based platforms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, TikTok, are used to post vile, degrading and abusive images of children being sexually abused. (To be continued)/PN
