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[av_heading heading=’MORE VITAL THAN EVER | Among the world’s worst places for children ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY EDGARDO J. ANGARA
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Saturday, June 10, 2017
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EARLIER this year, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested in Malapascua Island, Cebu, a 23-year-old Filipina child trafficker, who had been on the run for two years with 16 pending warrant of arrests in Cagayan De Oro City. The Filipina was an accomplice of an Australian expatriate who was arrested in 2015 for operating an online cyberpornography shop that preyed on streetchildren and forced them to perform indecent acts and undergo torture on camera.
In April, an American expatriate was arrested in Mabalacat, Pampanga, for similar crimes involving children being recorded and webstreamed as they endure horrific levels of abuse. The arrest of the American yielded piles of hard drives containing images and videos of child abuse that pedophiles all over the world pay sizable amounts to view and patronize.
This horrible form of child exploitation, called “web cam sex tourism,” is estimated to already be a US$1-billion a year underground industry. One Australian news report pointed out that almost every case stems from the Philippines, where online predators are taking advantage of the Philippines’ expanding Internet penetration and English-speaking populace.
On top of such gross children abuse, there are other equally damaging — albeit largely ignored — ways that children are suffering in the Philippines.
Recently, Save The Children released its End of Childhood Index report which measures whether a country provides children with a good childhood or deprives them of it. The index specifically compares data on child mortality under five years old, stunting, out-of-school children, child labor, early marriage, teenage pregnancy, displacement due to conflicts and children homicide.
Sadly, the Philippines was found among the worst places for children. Ranking 96th out of 172 countries, we ranked behind Singapore (33rd), Brunei Darussalam (64th), Malaysia (65th), Thailand (84th), and Vietnam (92nd), among ASEAN members. Among the indicators, our child mortality before 5 years old is at 28 percent, stunting at 30 percent, and teenage pregnancies at 62.7 percent. Some of the worst rates in the region.
A Save The Children adviser noted those three indicators lead to a “vicious cycle” of a “stolen childhood” for many of the children who are malnourished are more prone to dying before the age of 5 and are born to teenage mothers.
These grim statistics against a backdrop of horrific child exploitation and sexual abuse, paint a dark picture of how a Catholic country has failed its children. June 1 marks the International Day for the Protection of Children. That day is both a reminder and rebuke of society’s leaders’ neglect. (angara.ed@gmail.com| Facebook & Twitter: @edangara)/PN
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