Injustice and poverty causes child sexual abuse, 1

THE PHILIPPINES is a very rich country ruled by a rich elite of dynastic political families. Once they get into power, it is almost impossible to get them out and when they do fall from power, they have accumulated so many billions of dollars they have enough money to make a political comeback as we all know from recent history.

This kind of faulty democracy where the hungry sell their votes for the candidate with the most money directly results in dire poverty.

The outcome of dire poverty is that mothers have to work abroad. Most of the two million overseas workers are women and many are mothers with children. Many more mothers stay behind and they work in the formal and informal sector doing house cleaning and laundry and as sidewalk vendors, street cleaners and vendors. They comprise 46 percent of the workforce.

This means they are away from their families while working and the children are left at home when not in school. That makes the children very vulnerable to child sexual abuse. In fact, some estimates say that as many as 7,000,000 children suffer some form of child sexual abuse in the Philippines every year.

According to research on- line the “2022 Disrupting Harm Study” conducted by UNICEF, ECPAT International, and Interpol, 20 percent of Internet- using Filipino children aged 12-17 were subjected to online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC). They are part of the estimated 2 million children who have been victimized.

Lea is one of them. One evening, when she was only eight years old, she was watching television with her mother Junne. They were watching a program about teenage pregnancy. Her mother advised Lea that should anyone touch her inappropriately, she should immediately tell her mother about it.

There and then, Lea broke down and suddenly cried, which alarmed her mother. Then Lea disclosed that her father Leo touched her private parts on numerous occasions.

Outraged and angry, Junne confronted her partner about it but he denied everything. Junne then reported Lea’s disclosure to the barangay where they live (Calapacuan, Subic) and they were immediately referred to the local social worker.

The local social worker realized that Lea was a sexually abused child at risk of being abducted and threatened by the partner if she made a formal complaint. She immediately referred Lea to the protection of Preda Home for Girls for healing to overcome the trauma.

In interviews with the Preda social worker, Lea disclosed that her father had raped and assaulted her five times. All incidents happened at night when her mother was away working on night shift and she and her siblings were left with their father. She did not tell anyone of the incidents earlier because he threatened to hurt her and her siblings.

She had the powerful Emotional Release Therapy and cried and shouted at her father and punched the cushions as if punching him. She was fighting back. That released all the pent up hurt, shock and fear at the abuse of the father and his threats.

This means they are away from their families while working and the children are left at home when not in school. That makes the children very vulnerable to child sexual abuse. In fact, some estimates say that as many as 7,000,000 children suffer some form of child sexual abuse in the Philippines every year.