BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
THE PROTECTION and nurturing of the family and family values was once the most important commitment of Church and State.
The family is composed of parents and children, that bedrock institution of society that has been and is continually being undermined and destroyed by the gross immorality that is pervading society and its institutions.
The proliferation of unrestricted, unblocked child abuse images through the Internet Service Providers are partially to blame. Good parents must be aware and alarmed at the danger that this poses to their children who have easy access to the internet.
The pandemic lockdowns highlighted that extreme fragility when families were confined inside their homes. Schools were closed for two years and movement in public was greatly restricted. In a nation like the Philippines where 17.7 million people live in dire poverty, such overcrowding and compact living has its negative harmful effects on family life.
Child physical and sexual abuse exploded as a result. Recent statistics of the number of child victims being referred to protection healing centers have shown that the sexual abuse of children by parents has greatly increased.
Adult parents and children were in contact with the outside world only by television and an internet connection during the pandemic. The uncontrolled and unfiltered availability of child abuse images and video sex shows of child abuse provided by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) likely led to the horrific upsurge and release of evil impulses and desires of adults to have sexual satisfaction by abusing their own children.
One of hundreds if not thousands is a 12-year old child named Elda (not her real name). In October and December 2020 and again in January 2021, she was raped by her biological father in their house in Calapacuan, Subic,Zambales. She was so scared of her father and thought that no one would believe her so she told no one.
Her mother was separated from her father in 2018 but later he took custody of the children. In July 2021, Elda’s father beat her and her little brother and she went to her aunt and uncle and told them of all the abuse that happened to her and her brothers.
They immediately contacted the municipal social worker and Elda was rescued and brought to the Preda Foundation’s healing home for abused children. After she recovered emotionally and was empowered by Emotional Release Therapy, she filed her legal complaint against her abusive father. She bravely testified in court and withstood cross examination.
Her testimony was upheld. Her father’s defense was denial. On her credible testimony and medical evidence, her father was convicted to three life sentences for the rape of his child. That’s what awaits anyone who is convicted of molesting a child younger than 16 years.
We can’t be sure if child abuse images led him to commit such heinous crimes but we do know that images are easily available even on Facebook. Besides, online sexual abuse of children paid for by foreign pedophiles has grown extensively. The Philippines is the international hub for this kind of online child abuse. (To be continued)/PN
