BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
LEA BECAME self-confident and empowered to file a criminal complaint against her father. She bravely testified and told all that had been done to her. Then she withstood the strict cross-examination by the defense attorney and in the end was believed by Judge Gemma Theresa Hilario-Logronio.
Last Jan. 8, 2024 Leo was found guilty and convicted for the rape and assault of his eight-year-old daughter and sentenced to life in prison.
The Preda Foundation children achieve an outstanding average of 18 -20 convictions every year.
According to government statistics (but don’t blindly trust the figures as the poverty rate is likely to be a lot more) the inequality in the Philippines is among the worst in the world. Not only are 20 million in dire poverty, many are surviving on “pag-pag,” that is the leftover scraps from dinner plates in fine restaurants. The poor boil and eat them to live. There are about 19,000-dollar millionaires in the Philippines but by 2026 that will rise to 33,000, according to Statista.
Julie is the child of another overseas working mother from San Marcelino, Zambales. She was left with her half-brother Kevin when only seven years old and her mother went to work abroad due to poverty after she split up with her first husband. Julie was very vulnerable, unguarded and unprotected, and her half-brother Kevin began to sexually abuse her starting when he gave her a bath and began touching her private parts.
This continued for several years and when her mother returned, she worked for a rich family outside and the abuse continued until Julie finally told about the sexual abuse and Kevin was arrested and brought before the court. Julie testified to the abuse and he was convicted and jailed. There, he will not abuse any more children and hopefully repent and accept his penance. This is the second conviction for Preda children for 2024 and so long as the children are protected, supported, helped and empowered with therapy they will find the courage to bravely testify against their abusers.
Poverty is caused by the irresponsible rich who do not share their wealth to help end poverty and lift up the poor. It’s not wrong to earn money, it is how you earn it and use it. The corrupt rich use it to buy votes, pay bribes and corrupt others. They use dirty money for open-pit mining and destroy the environment and indigenous people. Other filthy rich use it for illegal logging and gambling, vice and murder. They exploit the poor and underpay workers in the plantations, farms, factories and sweatshops. Jesus said to them, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven! Indeed, it is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We are challenged to live a life of service to end suffering, poverty, sickness and hardship. We can do this by spending our money wisely to help others. The Good Samaritan not only bound up the wounds of the wounded man on the road himself, he shared his wine and oil and his transportation. He paid for the hospitalization and provided for the aftercare of the victim. We should do likewise and be good Samaritans to the abused and needy. (preda.org)/PN
