BY SHAY CULLEN
INTIMATE partner violence is any kind of abuse that causes psychological harm, sexual aggression and includes physical force and even sexual coercion. It is all about power, domination by the man to control and dominate the woman or child.
Petra had no way out. She turned to her friends who encouraged her to strike out on her own and meet other men and leave her partner. They introduced her to Francesca, a human trafficker and pimp (not her real name) who sold her to men for sexual abuse in cheap hotels.
Then one day, Francesca introduced her to a man, call him Jaybee (not his true name), who opened a bag and showed a lot of money for a sex party to be held in a hotel. Francesca agreed to get more girls.
Jaybee said he would have sex with Petra, now 16, before the party. She didn’t want that with him but was pressured by Francesca and was taken to a hotel and sexually abused by Jaybee, the organizer of the sex party.
Two days later with other children, Petra went to Mary’s hotel and restaurant in Apalit, Pampanga for the sex party. There, she saw Jaybee hand over payment to Francesca and suddenly police in plain clothes surrounded them and Francesca was arrested.
The organizer of the party who had abused Petra disappeared. He was an undercover agent working for a nongovernment organization who planned with police to arrest traffickers and rescue victims. He was a child sex abuser in disguise.
A social worker and a police woman appeared and took custody of Petra and the other children that were trafficked for sexual abuse.
They were referred to the Preda Foundation’s home for trafficked and abused children. There, Petra felt wanted by a family for the first time in her life. She felt safe, protected and was free to express all her loneliness and frustrations.
Petra came to realize her dignity and rights as a teenager and how she had been rejected and exploited all her life. She had Emotional Release Therapy and cried and shouted at her cruel relatives that had abandoned her. She cursed at Francesca, who gave her to Jaybee to be raped, and she screamed at Jaybee for sexually abusing her.
Her anger and pain poured out and finally left her. She was free. Jaybee was likely an undercover agent of an NGO that organized the party. Petra is now empowered and ready to testify against her abusers.
Reporting sexual abuse and saving the victims with protection and therapy with legal action by victims is essential to fight abuse. They need help to file cases and convict the rapists.
Preda children win 15 convictions on average every year. One thing that can be done by public protest and action is to demand worldwide strict regulation of the telecommunication corporations and the Internet Service Providers to block child abuse images and videos. That is one way to reduce violence against women and children. (www.preda.org)/PN
