BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
(Continued from Sept. 16, 2022)
CORRUPTION is the root cause of the problem in Philippine sports. Officials are in government to serve mostly themselves.
The NBI was called in at one stage and discovered an official of PSC had allegedly stolen 14 million pesos over five years that should have gone to the athletes, no doubt, one of many alleged scams and corrupt dealings in the PSC. The amazing thing is that so many Filipino athletes, despite all this skullduggery by government officials, achieve so much by winning trophies and inspiring the youth and nation. Sadly, the corruption and lack of support mean few Filipinos make it to the world tournaments.
Another great Filipino athlete is Meggie Ochoa, a Jiu-jitsu champion. She won a gold medal at the Jiu-Jitsu International Federation World Championships in Sweden in 2021, the first Filipino to do so. She became world champion three times and won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in 2018. Under-funded, she had to raise her own funds to get to the tournaments, with no government funds for her and she has achieved so much. More than that, she inspired this headline, “Jiu-jitsu champ Meggie Ochoa battles Philippines’ sex abuse scourge.” She is a committed defender and campaigner for the rights of abused children.
The sexual abuse of athletes is no secret. Children and youth, all minors, are the most vulnerable of all. In the Philippines, the average athlete in training or on a team is poor, vulnerable and under the ascendancy and control of the coach, manager, trainer or sports doctor. The youth athletes are in awe or in fear of the master who runs the training. That power of the trainer or coach leaves the door open to child sexual abuse in the sports world of youth. Meggie Ochoa sees the extent of child sexual abuse in and outside of sports, too, and has become a child rights advocate.
Child abuse is so widespread that Unicef tagged the Philippines as the world epicenter of online child sexual abuse and sex trade in 2017 and it has grown non-stop since. “It’s an awareness campaign to get people talking about the issue,” she said. Maggie holds a presentation on the issue after her demonstration bouts. American Olympic judo athlete Kayla Harrison was sexually abused by her coach and found the courage to speak out about it and hold him accountable.
Research shows that the coach or trainer is the main sexual abuser of minors in sports. In swimming, it is mostly girl victims and in tennis, it is mostly boy victims, researchers found. Athletic peer group pressure also leads to the sexual abuse of minors in sports. The older athletes have a powerful influence on juniors and can groom and bring them into a dependent relationship where the abuse occurs.
Sports doctors also have influence and can abuse the youth to get sexual gratification. Doctor Larry Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics doctor, is the most notorious, and when many sexually abused gymnasts made complaints to the USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, both created by US Congress to protect athletes, it was revealed both “failed to do their jobs.”
They also reported the crimes to the FBI but the agents failed to investigate Nassar. He continued to abuse athletes for two more years. In the United States, one in 12 young athletes is sexually abused. That is 13 percent of all young athletes. It is likely to be similar or even worse in the Philippines and other countries.
The institutional cover-up of child abuse crimes in sports and society are crimes of abuse themselves. The authorities will protect the institution, the “favored son” and high officials and ignore the victims. The BBC revealed that the UN has a huge problem of sexual abuse and harassment. Complaints and whistleblowers have been fired. Many of the abusers have immunity from prosecution being UN diplomats. Most institutions instill fear and issue threats to prevent victims from reporting abuse and when they do, the apathy and indifference among officials allow it to continue.
Life for a child or youth in sports is not a fair game. Child abuse victims do not often win when they challenge injustice. Like Meggie Ochoa, we all need to be child rights advocates and give support and voice to the cries for help of abused children. (preda.org)/PN
