FEBRUARY 2026 marked 52 years since the establishment of the Preda Foundation, a charitable organization aimed at helping children in conflict with the law, street children, children at risk, and child abuse victims/survivors.
We should never underestimate the desire and determination of children to fight for their rights and demand justice. Today in the Philippines, there are many judges who are friendly to children and understand how they were sexually abused and exploited, and can know when a child is telling the truth.
When given protection, support and healing, many children feel empowered at Preda’s home for abused children, where they find the courage to fight for justice and win. Let us celebrate two of them, whose names have been changed here.
Angie was just 12 years old and living with her family in New Banicain, Olongapo City, when her mother’s cousin gave in to his evil desires. He took Angie to an isolated place one night and raped her.
Despite the shocking crime and the warning not to tell anyone, the girl had the courage to tell her mother, who believed and supported her, as good mothers should. A city social worker referred Angie to the Preda home.
There, she was protected from the rapist and his relatives. She was welcomed, found friends, and voluntarily joined the foundation’s emotional release therapy. She eventually recovered from her trauma and became determined to get justice.
Preda social workers helped her file her case, and on Feb. 24, justice was served. In the Olongapo Family Court, Judge Melani Fay V. Tadili found Angie’s rapist guilty of acts of lasciviousness and rape and sentenced him to life in prison. He was also ordered to pay her P20,000 in civil damages.
Angie is now happily back with her family and continues to be supported in school through Preda’s aftercare program.
Another girl helped by Preda is Maria, 14, who lived with her brothers and sister in Zambales. On Dec. 6, 2022, Maria was sexually abused by her sister’s husband. She showed courage by not giving in to the threats against her and her family.
She disclosed the abuse, and her family immediately took action against the abuser. The municipal social worker of San Narciso was informed about Maria’s case and brought her to Preda for protection. There, with support and counselling, she overcame her trauma and became determined to file her case.
Relatives pressured Maria’s mother to get her daughter to withdraw her complaint. Maria was distressed by that, but she overcame that, too, with therapy at Preda. She refused to withdraw.
At the Olongapo City Family Court on Feb. 24, Judge Tadili pronounced the respondent guilty of sexual assault and sentenced him to several years in prison.
These girls’ legal victories were made possible by the empowerment and healing offered at the Preda home for abused children.
In 1996, Preda opened another home for sexually abused and abandoned children rescued from sex bars and brothels, and from domestic sexual abuse in Olongapo City. This was later transferred to a nature reserve, surrounded by mountains and forests, in Pamatawan, Subic.
The foundation successfully campaigned for new laws to protect children and attain justice for them. But due to the backlog and overload of cases in family courts, the resolution of child abuse cases has been delayed too long. (To be continued)/PN
