Trafficked by own aunt
Abusers can be anybody: family members, pedophiles, strangers. But more children are fighting back, getting help and winning convictions against their abusers. One of them is Jenny.
In 2022, then-15-year-old Jenny was trafficked by Daday, an aunt, and sold to a foreigner inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. When her parents learned about it, they filed a complaint.
The police then referred Jenny to a local social worker, who then referred her to the Preda home for girls. There, Jenny gained new friends and settled quite well after a few weeks. In one emotional release therapy session, she revealed a long-kept secret: she has been raped by Jayson, Daday’s brother, since she was eight. She was unable to tell anyone about it because Jayson threatened to kill her parents if she did.
After a few months, she filed a legal complaint against Jayson, as well. She told her story to the courts, hearing the complaints and the judges believed her.
Daday was convicted of tracking in 2025, while Jayson was convicted this month for statutory rape and sentenced to life in prison.
Children are mostly believed by judges when they clearly testify about the abuse they endured, even if there were no witnesses. Many child rapists are convicted to life in prison. Even a Catholic priest was finally found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on Dec. 17, 2025, by Judge Modesto Bahul Jr. of the Baguio City Regional Trial Court. He is just one of the possible 453 child-abusing priests in the Philippines, out of the 10,633 in total.
Another priest is already behind bars, and two others are on trial.
Most suspected abusers are protected by some of their bishops so they don’t have to confess their sins and do penance in jail. They have impunity and can continue to abuse children. No millstone around their necks and thrown in the deep sea for them, as Jesus of Nazareth said they should, in the Gospel of Saint Matthew (18:6–7). Bishops can ignore the Gospels, it seems.
But it is understandable that priests are protected because Philippine prisons are notorious for its subhuman standards, and for its culture of gang rape and constant sexual abuse. A report by Just Detention International that was sent to the UN said prisoners, among others, are raped, “left beaten and bloodied, contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and suffer severe psychological harm.” However, convicted priests would have special privileges and protection even inside prison; other convicted child rapists would not.
Children older than 15 who are detained in government-run Bahay Pag-asa facilities have no such privileges, although the law says they should have. A Commission on Human Rights (CHR) report to the UN says these children suffer physical, sexual and psychological abuse.
Despite the existence of Republic Act 9344, or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, which aims to protect children from abuse, sexual and physical abuse continues in youth detention centers. The media and NGOs are barred from visiting these facilities after several exposés of their arsh and abusive conditions.
The CHR said in their report that youth detention centers in the Philippines are more like subhuman jails. “Instead of serving as safe spaces for restorative justice, many Bahay Pagasa centers are functionally designed like adult prisons, complete with restrictive bars, padlock control, and stark, non-conducive rehabilitation spaces,” the commission said.
“The children suffer poor nutrition, cramped cells [and] dirty toilets. Education is severely restricted or nonexistent; mental or physical health care services are nonexistent,” it added.
Some compassionate judges in Cebu refer and transfer some youths in conflict with the law from the Cebu City Operation Second Chance to the Preda Foundation’s New Dawn Home in Liloan. There, a community of 25 boys live in harmony and freely choose to stay. None escape but are continuing their training and education — and slowly changing their lives. (shaycullen@gmail.com)/PN
