BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
THE HORRIFIC crime of child sexual abuse is a shockingly common practice almost everywhere in the world. It was and is tolerated but seldom talked about other than in jokes and snide comments alluding to the practice by suspected pedophiles or when a court conviction is reported. It is increasing and child sex tourists are still coming to the Philippines to abuse our children. Few are ever convicted.
The online sexual abuse by relatives of small children has made the Philippines the shameless hub of such child abuse monitored by international police agencies. The foreigners abuse online and then come to abuse Filipino children in person like what Irish media producer Kieran Creaven did. He came to physically abuse the children he paid to be abused online. He was arrested in the UK when caught soliciting a child there for sex abuse.
US national Donald A. Stenson, 67, was jailed recently for 10 years in the United States. He had been coming to the Philippines since 2007 to sexually abuse children as young as 11 to 17 and videoed himself doing it until 2019.
His friend, John Burgdorff, 66, came with him and together they abused more children. He was jailed in November 2022 in the USA for two and half years for abusing children in the Philippines. A tip-off by CyberTipline to the US government, Project Safe Childhood, led to their arrest.
Philippine government officials must implement Republic Act 11930 or the Anti-online Sexual Abuse Law. It mandates the telecommunication corporations to install blocking and detecting software on their servers to catch the criminals. But they have not done this effectively ever. They just monitor websites with information from UK-based Internet Watch. Seemingly they don’t care.
There is only a small Philippine anti-cyber-sex investigation police unit for online investigation. They are almost totally overwhelmed by the task of detecting and finding the abusers. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has to offer larger rewards for genuine information and catch the abusers and rescue the victims.
Strong-minded, dedicated Filipino prosecutors are resisting pressure and sent an accused pedophile priest to jail recently, the first time in Philippine history, some believe.
The Catholic priest is jailed awaiting trial for multiple acts of child rape and sexual assault and videotaping the abuse. He is a cousin of the father of the victim, call her Angelica, making him the uncle of the victim. He was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation.
It is the first time a priest is likely to be convicted. He admitted the acts of abuse but says they were consensual. He was also blackmailing the child with the videos so that likely negates his defense. May justice be done and may many more victims come forward and seek justice.
Some relatives that abuse their children online for money say it’s just harmless play because there is no touching of the child victims by the pedophiles online. But just ask the abused victims to tell their story.
Millions of children were sexually abused and ignored. The churches turned the other way, too, and tolerated it. Bishops passed pedophile priests from parish to parish when complaints by parents and children were made. They still do despite the strict instruction of Pope Francis to report them to the civil authorities.
Payments are made to have the complaints withdrawn. That is always evidence of guilt. Angelica was allegedly offered a college scholarship by the diocese to withdraw her complaint against her uncle. (To be continued)/PN
