BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
MORE determined judges are handing down more convictions than ever before based on the true, clear testimony of the child victims that are convincing and truthful. Judge Dorina Castro-Baltazar in Family Court Branch 3 of Bataan is one of them. We have mentioned others in previous columns and commended them to the Supreme Court and during the event in the Makati Diamond Residences.
Let’s call the child Rita. When she was only 13 years old in 2021, she was the victim of a heinous crime when she was cruelly raped by her own father. She was traumatized and scared because her father was a violent man. Her mother was scared of him, too, and would not believe her own daughter that he raped her and sent her away to Manila.
A year later, Rita returned home to Bataan, and one day her father sent her sisters outside and took Rita into a bedroom, where he raped her again. It was November 2022.
He threatened to hurt and kill them if she complained. But it was too much for Rita; she was deeply traumatized by the incest and had to tell someone. She told her best friend and cried uncontrollably. Her classmates brought her to the school advisor, and from there they went to the municipal social worker and the police. Her father was arrested that same day and jailed while an investigation began. Rita was referred to the Preda home for healing, therapy, and protection.
Rita’s mother was against her and tried to stop her from testifying, but Rita had emotional release therapy at the Preda therapeutic home and became self-confident, empowered, and determined to pursue her case.
The good judge, Hon. Dorina Castro-Baltazar listened, and while it was Rita’s word against her father’s denial, the judge wisely believed Rita. Her father was convicted of qualified rape and sentenced to life in prison. There, he cannot abuse more of his children or any other children. Rita was rejected by her mother, but with the help of Preda, she has found a new independent life.
Laura (not her real name) is a child from Burgos, Pangasinan, and she was raped many times by her unemployed biological father since she was only eight years old. Her mother was working abroad, and child abuse is the greatest fear of overseas mothers.
When Laura’s mother returned, the abuse stopped until her mother went abroad again, and the abuse began again. It also continued when she returned years later, and Laura, traumatized by then and unable to endure anymore, told her mother.
At first, her mother believed Laura, and together they went to the police, but the mother changed her mind and stopped Laura from filing the case. Laura was devastated. She faced a future of continual sex abuse by her own father. She could not stand it and told her aunt, Carmen (not her real name), who had been a victim of child abuse also and had recovered at the Preda Foundation and is an accomplished actress in the Preda theater group. She referred Laura to Preda, and with the Preda social workers, Laura filed a case.
She fought her case in Burgos, Pangasinan, and withstood the cross-examination supported by the Preda team. She prevailed when the wise presiding judge, Hon. Vincent Lamug believed her and convicted her father to life in prison after two years of trial.
Even one year of awaiting justice is re-traumatizing already, but waiting until 2026 is too long and all the more traumatizing for a child, during which she can be threatened and pressured to withdraw her complaint.
What is urgently needed is a Children’s Court and a speedy, decisive trial so that justice can be done and seen to be done without delay and as soon as possible. (preda.org)/PN
