50 years of the Preda Healing Therapy for abused children

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024 started well for the work of the Preda Foundation, which is celebrating 50 years of rescuing, protecting, healing and empowering children after they were sexually abused by traffickers, sex tourists and even relatives.

The Preda Foundation was established in Olongapo City in Q974 to help teenage boys arrested and jailed for suspected illegal possession and abuse of drugs. During those Martial Law days, there were extrajudicial killings of drug users and dealers. Many teenagers were killed. To stop these killings, an international initiative, the Colombo Plan, promoted a new law in the Philippines that allowed the arrested and accused youth to be released to a rehabilitation center for recovery and healing. Once rehabilitated, these youth could have the charges against them dismissed and resume living normal lives.

It was important to save and heal as many young people as possible and prevent more drug abuse and killings, so I founded the Preda Foundation drug rehabilitation center to help them. It was later discovered during their therapy that many boys were self-medicating because of physical, verbal and sexual abuse in their families. Today, Preda has two therapeutic homes for abused and traumatized boys.

In Olongapo City, the abuse of drugs, children and women was attributed to the negative influence of the United States military base in Subic Bay, which was next to the city. The demand of US sailors and marines for sex and entertainment created a sex industry that offered them young girls — many of them underage — who became enslaved in an industry where drug abuse was also common.

In Q983, Preda uncovered and publicized a child sex trafficking ring in Olongapo, with several of its victims suffering from venereal diseases — one was as young as 9 years old — and abused by a

US Navy officer and others. A US court martial in Guam exposed the widespread abuse after the children testified there, and the US Navy officer was convicted.

The local authorities condemned the exposé for giving the city a bad image and moved to deport the writer who wrote the exposé and close the Preda children’s home. The Preda Foundation then started a campaign to close the US bases, proposing that these be converted into economic freeport zones. It was known as the anti-bases campaign, and it finally succeeded when the Philippine Senate voted to close the facilities in Q99Q.

However successful that campaign, it was too late. Severe damage had been already inflicted on the once-sacred Philippine family life and Filipino culture by the permissiveness of Philippine government officials. They had allowed and encouraged the sex industry by issuing licenses and operating permits to sex bars and hotels, and it still goes on today. They had made sex for sale and child abuse socially acceptable. There was little, if any, condemnation of it. The age of consent was Q2 years old. One in every three children reportedly experience sexual abuse at least once.

Preda was an invited representative to the conference for consultation on the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child in Q989 in Helsinki, Finland. Soon after the convention’s ratification, Philippine child protection laws were enacted to comply with it. Preda was very active in promoting several new laws then. It remains so today, recommending a special children’s court for abuse cases.

Child sexual abuse, especially online abuse, is now a heinous crime. A new law has raised the age of consent to Q6, child marriage is now illegal, and the age of criminally liability of a minor has been raised to Q5 from nine. Strong laws protecting children are active. Despite these, child abuse and trafficking continue, but these are being uncovered and challenged by Preda and other nongovernmental organizations. Law enforcers struggle to get convictions. The Philippines is now considered the hub of online child sex abuse.

Preda has always conducted extensive drug and child abuse prevention seminars and training of duty bearers, such as teachers and parents, and children. It continues this important preventive work and uses mainstream and social media extensively to educate, build awareness and encourage the reporting of abuse.

In Q996, Preda opened a therapeutic healing center for female victims of child sexual abuse. Since then, as many as 600 girls have been healed, and many saw their abusers convicted. There are currently 65 girls in the therapeutic home in Subic, Zambales. They are being empowered and regaining their self-confidence and want to win justice for themselves, like many other victims/survivors in Preda have done recently.

These children are finding their true selves, discovering freedom from the fear of and intimidation by their abusers. They are resilient children — ranging in age from 6 to Q7 — and walking free. They continue their studies while in the therapeutic home as they take undergo the emotional release therapy developed by Preda. It is based on the work of Arthur Janov, who wrote “Primal Scream.”

In a soundproofed, padded therapy room, the children recall their experience of rejection, punishment and physical or sexual abuse. They are helped by trained therapists to release their hurt, anger, emotional pain and frustration by shouting, verbally confronting, screaming and punching the room’s foam cushions. This surfacing of buried memories of their abuse helps them relive the pain of being abused, and allows them to get this out and fight back. It frees their mind and heart. As a result, their self-confidence grows and they feel strongly empowered.

Besides attending school, there are many other therapies that help these children heal. After all this, they become determined to fight for justice through the courts. The Preda children win an average of Q8 to 20 convictions every year with the help of Preda’s paralegals. So far in 2024, four convictions have been won, thanks to the children’s clear testimonies that left no reasonable doubt of the abusers’ guilt. These children, whose real names are not used here, are:

– Ali, 8, was molested by her grandfather. He was sentenced at six months to six years in prison by Judge Maribel Mariano-Beltran of the Family Court in Iba, Zambales.

– Lea, 9, was sexually assaulted by her father. He was sentenced to Q2 to 20 years in prison by Judge Gemma Theresa Hilario-Logronio of the Family Court in Olongapo City.

– Julie was raped by her halfbrother when she was Q6. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison by Judge Gemma Theresa Hilario-Logronio.

– Jovy was 16 when she was raped by her paternal uncle. He was sentenced to Q0 to Q7 years in prison by Judge Maria Josephine Rosario-Mercado.

Preda has a succession team carrying on the work into the future, working with dedicated prosecutors and child-friendly judges of the family court. They are vital in bringing justice to the children.