The ‘poison seed’ of the former US bases, 2
IN THOSE days, child sexual abuse was seldom acknowledged, admit t ed or rarely acted against. The victims suffered in silence all their lives. They had no recompense, no healing, no justice because there was no strong law. Then, the age of consent for sexual intercourse was at 12 years of age (changed in 2022). If there was a complaint, the child was said to have consented to the abuse. How could a helpless, impoverished 12year old stand against a 30-year old abuser in ascendency?
I won that deportation case and continued to speak out for child rights through my writings, TV interviews and speaking at international conferences. The city authorities retaliated by threatening to close the Preda children’s home. I said that it was better to close the US military bases and convert them into economic zones.
That became my campaign and hundreds of thousands of good Filipinos of moral courage and values joined it and others made their own campaigns, and all spoke out against the exploitation of women and children. Eventually, nine years later, on September 16, 1991 the Philippine Senate led by Senate President Jovito Salonga and eleven other senators voted 12-11 not to renew the lease agreement with the United States. That was the end, the bases closed one year later and the last US navy ship left Subic Bay in November 1992. Finally it was over.
At the start of my campaign against the US bases, I wrote that “life after the bases” would be better and I proposed a six-point conversion plan. All that I proposed then is reality today and a dream come true, I am happy to say. I believed that the good Filipinos could do it and they did. Clark and Subic are thriving economic zones today.
T h e r e n e w e d m i l i t a r y partnership between the United States and the Philippines has brought back the US servicemen and women and the memories. We must strive to see that it will not be a rerun of the terrible exploitation of women and children, so widespread during the more than fifty years of the US naval station at Subic Bay and Olongapo City.
The impact of 50 years of US military bases left a deep moral damage on the Filipino people due to immoral and failed leaders. The approved sex industry instilled a false narrative among the people. The very wrong saying: “What is good for the US serviceman is good for the Filipino” damaged the moral fabric and Christian beliefs of the Filipinos.
As a result the sex exploitation of young women and even children, domestic sexual abuse, human trafficking, and online sexual abuse of children for money are now widespread. It all stems from the “Poison Seed” of the US bases and the sex industry that was allowed to thrive.
Yet the work of saving and healing victims of sex abuse and combating sex tourism, human trafficking and online sexual abuse of children is the current work of the Preda Foundation. The work never stopped and the Preda children’s home has grown through the lock downs and expanded its services to 78 children, residential victim/ survivors. They win an average of 18 convictions of their abusers every year. May there be many more saved and victories won.