FIRST SAY:
… The headmaster, who led the daily services and prayers and held the Book, and was a bit of a sadist and a closeted homosexual (and whom I have long since forgiven because he ignited my interest in history and lent me my first copy of P. G. Wodehouse), was giving a no-nonsense talk to some of us one evening. “You may not see the point of all this faith now,” he said. “But you will one day, when you start to lose loved ones.”
Again, I experienced a stab of sheer indignation as well as disbelief. Why, that would be as much as saying that religion might not be true, but never mind that, since it can be relied upon for comfort. How contemptible. I was then nearing thirteen, and becoming quite the insufferable little intellectual. I had never heard of Sigmund Freud—though he would have been very useful to me in understanding the headmaster—but I had just been given a glimpse of his essay The Future of an Illusion.
I am inflicting all this upon you because I am not one of those whose chance at a wholesome belief was destroyed by child abuse or brutish indoctrination. I know that millions of human beings have had to endure these things, and I do not think that religions can or should be absolved from imposing such miseries. (In the very recent past, we have seen the Church of Rome befouled by its complicity with the unpardonable sin of child rape, or, as it might be phrased in Latin form, “no child’s behind left.”) But other nonreligious organizations have committed similar crimes, or even worse ones.
— Christopher Hitchens, “god is not great.”
The great writer and public intellectual Christopher Hitchens believes that telling a child about hell, scaring him/her about fire and brimstones, and eternal damnation, and inflicting physical and psychological pain on persons who died with unforgiven mortal sins—-all these constitute child abuse.
Another form of child abuse, of course, is of course rape and other sexual offenses committed against a child, and many Catholic priests, bishops, etc. around the world have been found guilty of this offense. Others of course were just punished with a transfer of assignments, while still others had been acquitted.
For decades however, even for centuries, this common form of child abuse continued to trouble the Church. Millions of dollars
had been paid by the church to victims, both in the United States, Europe, and North and South America, and Asia.
As of March 2024, BishopAccountability.org has identified 103 Catholic bishops worldwide accused publicly of sexual crimes against children and 46 Catholic bishops worldwide who have been accused publicly of sexual wrongdoing against adults only.
In the Philippines, there is an ongoing intensified campaign against sexual abuse or exploitation of children (OSAEC) and the availability of child sexual abuse or exploitation materials (CSAEM) in the country.
It was President Bongbong Marcos who directed government agencies to take up the challenge of fighting child abuse, said Justice Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano IV said. He added that the Chief Executive, who found the abuse cases alarming, issued the order during a sectoral meeting.
The cases and materials were found to be “rampant” in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Taguig cities, according to the Department of Justice’s Center for Anti-Online Child Sexual Abuse.
Marcos told the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National police (PNP) to intensify monitoring both in the country and abroad, and instructed the Department of Justice and the police to go after child pornography perpetrators. He also ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development and other agencies to improve the investigation process to ensure the protection of children and proper family reintegration.
He also wants an enhanced collaboration among government, the private sector, and internet service providers on a local and global scale, as well as more awareness campaigns in schools and communities.
Clavano said the President was “visibly distressed, very bothered and clearly stressed with the information that was relayed to him.” He said Marcos also directed the justice department to intensify talks with Facebook and other social media to remind them of their obligations under the law.
“Because a whole-of-government approach can’t solve the problem, the government has to collaborate with the private sector, non-government organizations, and social media platforms to fight such crimes,” he said.
He added that the DOJ has issued Department Circular 20 which requires prosecutors to work together with police officers to build quality cases in the prosecution of offenders.
Lawyer Margarita Magsaysay, executive director of the DOJ Center for Anti-Online Child Sexual Abuse, said the abuse cases and materials are “rampant” in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Taguig cities.
Asked what is common in the three areas, Magsaysay said it could be that there really is a high number of cases, which she said is a “bad thing,” or it could be that cases are
being reported, which she said is a “good thing.”
Clavano said based on the government’s key findings, poverty is a common reason cited by offenders. He said the average victim age at the time of referral or rescue is 11 years while the youngest victim was less than a year old.
He said OSAEC victims are predominantly female (86 percent) while the 14 percent are male.
He added that OSAEC is a family-based crime wherein 41 percent of those facilitate the abuse are biological parents 42 percent are other relatives facilitate abuse.
In 2016, the Philippines was identified as a top global hotspot for OSAEC and CSAEM, but efforts have been ongoing to stop or at least address the issue.
Magsaysay also billions have been going around the OSAEC but people who have been engaging in such activities go as low as P200 or P300 per transaction. She said the victims were mostly children from the poorer side of the country.
Presidential briefer Daphne Oseña-Paez said there was an increase in OSAEC cases during the coronavirus disease pandemic especially with the increase in unsupervised online activities of children.
“Unsupervised by parents, they are English-speaking so targeted sila ng mga predators abroad dahil madali silang kausap at mababait ang mga Filipinos, they’re hospitable, and again, easy and free access to the internet and mobile phones dito sa Pilipinas (Unsupervised by parents, they are English-speaking so targeted they are targeted by predators abroad because they are easy to talk to, Filipinos are kind, they’re hospitable, and again, easy and free access to the internet and mobile phones in the Philippines),” she added.