Kenneth Klassen hides behind a newspaper as he waits in the lobby of the courthouse before his sentencing on Wednesday. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison on a series of sex-tourism charges involving young children.

Canada – The stiffest sentence ever under Canada’s sex tourism law was given to Burnaby art dealer Kenneth Klassen Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court.

He was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. One year is for possession of child pornography purchased in the Philippines. The 10 years are for 14 counts of sexual touching involving pre-pubescent girls in Colombia and Cambodia: six years for each of the eight counts involving the most aggravated sexual touching (to be served concurrently) and four years for each of the other six counts (to be served concurrently).

Klassen, who has been out on bail, was immediately arrested.

Additionally, Klassen must provide a DNA sample for the sex offender registry, where he will be listed for 20 years. He is prohibited from possessing a firearm for 10 years and banned for life from playgrounds, school yards and parks.

“Your honour, I am sorry for what I have done with all my heart,” the 59-year-old told Justice Austin Cullen before sentencing.

The judge seemed unmoved by his apology and by the defence lawyer’s suggestion that Klassen’s guilty plea was an indication of his remorse. Cullen noted that Klassen’s guilty plea in May came after his attempt to have the law declared unconstitutional had failed and on the eve of a trial for which the prosecutors had built “a strong case.”

It took nearly an hour for Cullen to read his decision, which included graphic descriptions of the videos Klassen purchased in the Philippines and his homemade “souvenirs” of the abuse.

The judge watched nearly two hours’ worth of video clips during last week’s sentencing hearing. Describing child sex tourism as a problem of “epidemic” proportion, Cullen accepted prosecutor Brendan McCabe’s argument that preying on children in poverty-stricken countries such as Colombia, Cambodia and the Philippines makes the crime worse.

By agreeing, Cullen has more broadly defined the concept of being in a position of trust or authority as going beyond relatives, teachers, doctors and priests to include wealthy foreigners.

This is a helpful change, says Brian McConaghy, founding director of The Ratanak Foundation, which rescues exploited children in Cambodia — a country teeming with children. There, the median age is 22.5 compared with Canada’s 40.7.

An estimated 30,000 minors are in the sex trade. But Mc-Conaghy says that’s not a reliable number because it doesn’t include the really little kids — such as the young girl McConaghy was called about Tuesday night.

She’s under 14 and in one of Ratanak’s community programs. This week, she was sold and was due to be picked up by two American pedophiles.

“This [sex tourism] is ongoing daily with devastating consequences for little lives,” said McConaghy.

Klassen is a textbook example. In just over 48 hours in Cambodia, he procured, assaulted and videotaped eight little girls.

It was an “opportunistic, organized and ongoing procurement of children,” according to Cullen. “A gross violation of the natural imperative to protect children” and it showed Klassen’s “callous preoccupation with his own pleasure.”

Orestes Huerta was named in a May 2010 statement released by the Dodge City Diocese as one of three priests from the diocese who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor.

Information about Huerta was discovered following a two-year Journal-World/6News investigative series on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Kansas.

The Dodge City Diocese did not provide further information about Huerta’s case other than confirming that Huerta was originally from Boac and served temporarily in Dodge City.

The Catholic Church’s Charter on the Protection for Children and Young People, established in 2002, states that for “even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor — whenever it occurred — which is admitted or established after an appropriate process … the offending priest or deacon is to be permanently removed from ministry.”

The Diocese of Boac did not respond to an e-mail request for more information. On its website, Huerta is listed as the assistant director for the Commission on Cultural Heritage, as well as the director of the Sacred Heart Pastoral Care Center.

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Source: LJWorld.com

Author:  Shaun Hittle

Date: July 21, 2010

Posted by: Gensan Relief and Community Exchange, Inc., General Santos City, Philippines

It was of course an understatement–he was referring to the pedophilia scandals that have rocked the Catholic church to its core. He focused on the case of Father Lawrence Murphy, who allegedly raped deaf minors while a priest in a Wisconsin church.

Next, in his column, Donohue says that Father Murphy began his practice as a pedophile in Wisconsin in the 1950s. Donohue then tells us that Cardinal Ratzinger, (who is today Pope Benedict XVI) who was in charge of the Vatican office which decides whether accused priests should be tried and defrocked, knew nothing regarding charges or allegations against the unholy right reverend Father Murphy.

He goes on to say, “That there is no evidence that he knew…”

Regarding this point, it has been stated by the Times that Archbishop of Milwaukee, Rembert G. Weakland, had on different occasions sent two letters to Ratzinger at the office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding Father Murphy and the overwhelming number of allegations of pedophilia against him.

Cardinal Ratzinger never responded to either of Archbishop Weakland’s letters. A Cardinal Torcisio Bertone, second in command at the Vatican office for the Doctrine of the Faith, instructed the bishops in Wisconsin to conduct a “secret trial” of the Priestly Pedophile, Father Murphy.

When Murphy, Patron Saint of Pedophilia, got the word about his upcoming trial he quickly sent off a correspondence to Cardinal Ratzinger. Donohue, of the Catholic League, wants us to believe that Cardinal Ratzinger in his official capacity within the Vatican knew nothing about this child raping pedophile, wreaking havoc in this St. John’s school for the deaf.

I find that difficult to accept.

Documents unearthed by representatives of victims disclosed that Murphy would roam the sleeping quarters of these boys and select from among them which ones he would have for his ungodly practice. To Father Murphy, it must have been akin to being in the supermarket, walking among the candies and cookies, and selecting the ones he wanted to have before bedtime.

Well, that was the practice of Father Lawrence Murphy. And based on interviews he had with investigators, he did this over 200 times to young Catholic boys who were deaf and speechless. In these documents investigators stated that Father Murphy never expressed any remorse for his actions. Instead, he wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger, protesting, because as he says: he had already repented, and besides, he should not be tried because the statutatory time limitation for prosecution had expired anyway.

This, to me, is an indication that this man was clear about what he was doing; he was not sick and clearly without remorse. Further more in his correspondence he says “I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood.”

Shortly after this letter to Cardinal Ratzinger the trial process began by Bishop Bertrone was brought to an abrupt halt. If Cardinal Ratzinger did not know of the transgressions of Father Murphy in Wisconsin’s St. John’s School for deaf boys then, as the old blues song says: “grits ain’t groceries, eggs ain’t poultry and Mona Lisa was a man.”

The only way this particular case could have gone on for so long had to have been because others in the Vatican organization covered it up. At another point in the column, Donohue attempts and fails miserably to spin the facts, as when he says, “The Times says repeatedly that the church officials did not report accusations of abuse to the police.”

Well the Vatican leadership didn’t. Documents uncovered as a result of the legal process clearly show that the Vatican attempted to cover up many instances of sexual abuse of children by its “priestly brotherhood of pedophilia.” And, I contend, as sure as sugar is sweet and Sugar-Honey-Ice-Tea stinks there are incidents of child sex abuse which the Vatican is aware of that is yet to be revealed.

As for the Vatican hiding information from the public and legal authorities, we can look at documents and news stories and see many instances of cover up. In the instance of Lawrence Murphy three successive archbishops in Wisconsin were told that Father Murphy was sexually abusing children, the documents show, but never reported it to criminal or civil authorities.

Furthermore, as to inference that there is no Vatican cover up, what would Donohue say to this: A BBC 2006 documentary “Sex Crimes and the Vatican” claims a secret church decree called “Crimen Solicitations” imposes the strictest oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses.

It was stated that breaking that oath means instant banishment from the church–excommunication. This BBC documentary quoted the 2005 Fern Report: “A culture of secrecy and fear of scandal that led bishops to place the interest of the Catholic Church ahead of the safety of children.”

Coming from the same documentary, Rick Romley, a district attorney of Phoenix stated, “The secrecy, the obstruction I saw during my investigation of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was unparallel in my entire career as a D.A. …”

In my view this entire episode of Catholic priests sexually assaulting little Catholic boys and the Vatican officials covering up these crimes of rape is just that–crimes. The priest committed the criminal act of a rape against children. The authorities of the church who fail to report these offences to the legal authorities committed the crime of obstruction. The cover up on the part of the Vatican was not to protect the identity of the victims or to help the pedophile priests with counseling for the purpose of curing his or her criminal behavior. Documents in the Vatican’s position revealed that the Vatican’s intent was to save itself the embarrassment of this reign of “priestly pedophilia” within the catholic organization being made public.

Donohue and the Catholic League must have money to burn or throw away. Whatever was paid to The New York Times to print the column, placed as an advertisement, was a an attempt to “spin” a story to defend the Vatican’s jugular (moral authority); it was money down the drain.

In the United States from 1950 to 2009 the Vatican has paid out approximately $2.5 billion to victims of sex-abuse and their families according to  data compiled by the John Jay report of 2004. So  Donohue’s assertion that the Times was off base with its charge of a Vatican cover-up, is preposterous.

These payments are the results of settlements in and out of court. It would be worthwhile to note that there have been payments to victims and their families in other countries as well, which, for the Vatican has driven the cost of settlements even higher. To me these payments confirm the existence of Vatican cover-up of sex abuse.

Donohue also claimed the Times continues to editorialize about the “pedophilia crisis” when all along it’s been a “homosexual crisis”. Eighty percent of the victims of priestly sexual abuse are males and most of them are “post-pubescent.” Donohue, as they say in the hood, “don’t go there.”

I’ll keep this one short and sweet. By Donohue’s own acknowledgement the “priestly brotherhood of pedophilia” is raping the entire spectrum of male Catholic children from the babies to the young adults. In 2004 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (U.S. C.C.B.) commissioned the John Jay Report, which had an aspect to compile data on priests accused of sexual abuse and likewise the victims.

The John Jay report said between 1950 and 2002 there had been 10,667 reported allegations of child sexual abuse against 4,392 priests. 81% of the victims were males; 22% of all the victims were younger than 10 years of age. 51% were between 11 and 14 years of age.

Donohue and the church, rather than trying to spin the informational data, need to analyze it in an objective fashion. It is my view that the Vatican has both a crisis of pedophilia in the priesthood as well as, to quote Donohue himself, a “crisis of homosexuality”in the priesthood which need immediate attention and not a cover up.

The “priestly brotherhood of pedophilia” is a global disorder; the leader in this global order of priestly disorder is the catholic church of the United States of America.

It is said that when Jesus entered the temple and saw how the merchants and shylarks had so defiled it he took a whip to them and drove them all out. If Jesus were to enter the temple now to witness this global brotherhood of pedophilia and the massive cover-up of same, what do you suppose he would do… lock and load maybe.

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Source: blackstarnews.com

Author: Shaheed A. Muhammad

Date: June 4, 2010

Posted by: Gensan Relief and Community Exchange, Inc., General Santos City, Philippines

Post date: June 23, 1010

The defendant, the Rev. Gerald Howard, was being held Wednesday in Bloomfield, N.J., on $1.5 million bond, according to a news release from the Cooper County prosecuting attorney’s office.

Howard was known as the Rev. Carmen Sita when he was assigned to the Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Boonville during the 1980s. That’s where and when the alleged abuse that spawned the charges is believed to have occurred, according to a news release from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The parish is part of the Jefferson City diocese.

Cooper County Prosecutor Doug Abele said Howard has been indicted on eight different counts:

* three counts of forcible sodomy

* three counts of attempted forcible sodomy

* two counts of kidnapping

Howard was believed to have committed these offenses between 1983 and 1988.

All of the charges are class A felonies, which carry mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years in prison.

Abele said in a news release that several alleged victims from Boonville came forward to give accounts of the abuse, prompting the grand jury indictments.

The charges announced Thursday are not the first against Howard. Before coming to Boonville, Howard — then known as Carmen Sita — served as a priest in New Jersey. There, he was arrested and charged on counts of sexual contact with a minor on Sept. 15, 1982. He pleaded guilty in 1983, according to the Official Catholic Directory.

He was sentenced to five years probation and was sent to the Servants of the Paraclate in Albuquerque, N.M.

Following Sita’s name change in 1983, he came to Saints Peter and Paul Parish. He was dismissed in 1984, then went to work at Charter Hospital in Columbia, which has since closed. Charter was a treatment center for people with substance abuse addictions and other mental health problems.

After working at Charter, Howard disappeared. There is no record of when Howard left Charter or where he had been until his arrest.

“We don’t know when he even left the Columbia area,” said Judy Jones, Midwest associate director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP. The organization held a news conference about the Howard indictments outside the Columbia Police Department on Thursday.

Jones said it was victims’ testimony that led to Howard’s arrest Wednesday. One of those alleged victims — and the first to come forward — was former Boonville resident Mark McAllister, now of Roanoake, Va. After giving his testimony last August, many of Howard’s other alleged victims felt compelled to tell their story, said Ken Chackes, an attorney who represents McAllister.

In August, McAllister won a $600,000 settlement with the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., the Diocese of Jefferson City and the Servants of the Paracelete, a congregation that works with religious men with personal difficulties. The Diocese of Jefferson City was to pay $225,000 of that settlement, plus mediation costs, according to a previous Missourian report. A provision of that settlement is that Howard would be defrocked by the Catholic church.

Another of McAllister’s attorneys, Bryan Bacon, joined SNAP at the news conference. He called the indictments against Howard “a big victory for the victims.”

“It’s a victory for the Boonville community as well,” Bacon said.

SNAP members urged any other victims of abuse to bring their stories to light.

Jones read a statement from McAllister at the news conference.

“I applaud the courageousness of the victims who offered their testimony alongside me, and I encourage any other victims to break their silence and end their suffering,” McAllister’s statement said.

Bacon said Howard will eventually be extradited to Missouri. If convicted of all counts, he said, Howard probably would spend the rest of his life in prison.

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Posted by: columbiamissourian.com

Date:   (Updated) – Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Author:  Aimee Hall

Posted by: Gensan Relief and Community Exchange, Inc., General Santos City, Philippines

Post date: June 23, 2010

US State Undersecretary Maria Otero stressed that human trafficking, estimated as an illicit global enterprise worth $32 billion and victimizing 12.3 million adults and children around the world, is like slavery, which she described as “the most extreme form of depriving a person of the ability to pursue his or her God-given potential.”

The US report put the Philippines for the second consecutive year in its Tier 2 watch list, or countries that do not fully comply with the standards set by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of the United Nations, with such countries having a number of victims that is “very significant or is significantly increasing,” or because of failure of their governments to demonstrate improving efforts to curb human trafficking in their jurisdictions.

According to the report, “A significant number of Filipino men and women who migrate abroad for work are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude worldwide. Men, women, and children were subjected to conditions of forced labor in factories, construction sites, and as domestic workers in Asia and increasingly throughout the Middle East. Women were subjected to sex trafficking in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and various Middle Eastern countries. Within the Philippines, people were trafficked from rural areas to urban centers including Manila, Cebu, the city of Angeles, and increasingly to cities in Mindanao.”

It further said, “Corruption remained pervasive in the Philippines, and there were reports that officials in government units and agencies assigned to enforce laws against human trafficking permitted trafficking offenders to conduct illegal activities, either tacitly or explicitly. It is widely believed that some government officials partner with traffickers and organized trafficking syndicates, or at least permit trafficking operations in the country, and that law enforcement officers often extract protection money from illegal businesses, including brothels.”

US State Secretary Hillary Clinton, in her presentation of the report, said, “Traffickers must be brought to justice… It is everyone’s responsibility. Businesses that knowingly profit or exhibit reckless disregard about their supply chains, governments that turn a blind eye or do not devote serious resources to addressing the problem—all of us have to speak out and act forcefully.”

The US State Department’s “Introduction to the Human Trafficking Report” explained: “In 2000, the United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), and the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol…Fighting human trafficking is not a static exercise. A trafficking law passed last year must be implemented and improved this year. The lessons learned from last year’s prosecutions should inform and improve this year’s law enforcement response. Wide disparities between numbers of trafficking victims identified and trafficking offenders prosecuted should be reviewed with the goal of improving the capacity of law enforcement responders to deliver justice for victims. “

The report added, “Greater progress in prosecution and conviction of both labor and sex trafficking offenders is essential for the government of the Philippines to demonstrate significant and increasing progress toward compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” as it recommends that the country:

* Demonstrate greater progress on efficiently investigating, prosecuting, and convicting both labor and sex trafficking offenders involved in the trafficking of Filipinos in the country and abroad;

* Increase efforts to vigorously investigate and prosecute government officials complicit in trafficking;

* Dedicate more resources and personnel to prosecuting trafficking cases; devote increased resources to victim and witness protection, including for shelters;

* Increase efforts to engage governments of destination countries through law enforcement and diplomatic channels in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenders;

* Ensure the terms of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with foreign countries hiring Filipino workers are met, such that workers are adequately protected while abroad;

* Assess methods to measure and address domestic labor trafficking; and

* Continue to disseminate information on the 2003 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act throughout the country and train law enforcement and social service officials, prosecutors, and judges on the use of the law.

The report was very critical of the Philippines in all areas monitored: prevention, protection, and prosecution—regarded as the 3-Ps paradigm in addressing human trafficking. It acknowledged efforts by the Philippine government and various groups in combating human trafficking, but declared that these efforts were not enough.

Actually, groups monitoring cases of human trafficking in the country have observed that the crime has become worse, more rampant and more sophisticated.

The Philippine government should indeed exert all efforts to curb human trafficking. It is very bad enough that several of our countrymen—and women and children—have been thrown in desperate and inhumane situations by syndicates and pseudo-recruiters. But it’s much, much worse when people in the government, tasked by law to protect them, are even the ones victimizing them.

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Source: INQUIRER.net

Butchie Banda

Gender: ………Male
Age:……….……5
DOB: ………..…January 16, 2005
Religion: ………Christian
Grade Level: …Preschool
Province: ….….Sarangani
City/Town: …….Alabel
Barangay: ….…Paraiso
Purok:

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This is the 2nd consecutive year that the Philippines has been placed in the same category and unless an improvement in its performance is noted the country could be demoted in the next report and be barred from receiving non-humanitarian, non-trade-related US foreign assistance.

The report estimated that 12.3 million people were victims of trafficking in 2009-2010, although it said there has been progress over the past decade.

The 177-country report released on Monday is the most comprehensive on efforts by governments to combat human trafficking and for the first time includes a ranking of the US based on the same standards to which it holds other countries. It ranked itself in compliance, together with Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The report, intended to raise global awareness and spur countries to take effective actions to counter trafficking in persons, said that in the Philippines traffickers often masquerade as representatives of government-registered employment agencies.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in an address, described human trafficking as a threat to national security, public health, and democracy and called on everyone including businesses and governments to act forcefully to stamp out the problem.

“Countries come to us and ask very forcefully not to be dropped in their category and we hear them out and we tell them: the easiest way to get out of the tier three and get off the watch list is to really act,” Clinton said.

The report noted an increase in the number of trafficking cases filed in courts in the Philippines but said there was not much progress in convicting traffickers, particularly those responsible for labor trafficking.

“Greater progress in prosecution and conviction of both labor and sex trafficking offenders is essential for the Government of the Philippines to demonstrate significant and increasing progress toward compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” the report said.

It said that of 206 alleged trafficking cases prosecuted in 2009 only eight individuals in five sex trafficking cases were convicted including two who remain at large.

The Philippine government has yet to obtain a labor trafficking conviction, it said.

In September 2009 two offenders including a police officer were sentenced to life in prison and each fined $40,000 for trafficking children in 2005.

This marked the country’s first public official ever convicted for human trafficking, the report said.

“Despite these overall efforts, the government did not show evidence of significant progress in convicting trafficking offenders, particularly those responsible for labor trafficking,” the report said however.

“There were reports that organized crime syndicates were heavily involved in the commercial sex industry, and that international syndicates transited victims from mainland China through the Philippines to third country destinations,” it said.

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Source: Philstar.com

Original Title:  RP fight vs trafficking found wanting – US report

Author: Jose Katigbak, Washington Bureau, with Pia Lee-Brago

June 16, 2010

Posted by: Gensan Relief and Community Exchange, Inc., General Santos City, Philippines

Post date: June 16, 2010

One of the victims a 15 year old is pregnant allegedly by the 33 year-old suspect and the younger 14 year-old sister has multiple lacerations to her sexual organs according to the legal-medical examiners report. The child stated in her sworn affidavit that both men had sexual relations with her and her sister many times and video-taped it. The evidence points to multiple acts of child rape, abuse, intimidation and the making of child pornography.

The two suspects, American nationals, Mario and Mark P. were held for almost three weeks in NBI detention in Manila. They had charges of alleged child abuse, sex slavery and child trafficking dismissed by Olongapo City prosecutor Melani Fay Tadili-Banarez, in a resolution approved by Emily Delos Santos, city prosecutor last 24 May and walked free.

Despite the weight of evidence presented by the NBI; medical examinations showing multiple evidence of sexual abuse, the original statement of the 14 year -old that she was sexually used many times by both men and video taped in sexual acts as was her sister, and the fact that the 15 year old was rescued at 6 AM in the bedroom of the 33 year old, inexplicably child abuse charges were not made by the prosecutors and instead the wealthy suspects were allowed go free. Children¹s rights advocates have written to the Department of Justice undersecretary Linda Manelab-Hornilla asking her to respond quickly to the motion of the NBI for a reconsideration of the Olongapo prosecutor¹s dismissal or to order a reinvestigation before the suspects flee back to the United States.

The two sisters have not been taken into protective custody by the department of social welfare despite calls by child advocates. According to the NBI the two children now 14 and 15 years-old were allegedly abandoned by their mother Mrs. Cababacan to the older man and he was later joined by his son. The biological father of the children, Julius Jaucian,a German Citizen, died 12 year ago and is buried in Palauig, Zambales where the grandparents of the children live.

The children are vulnerable once again as the accused and their relatives have hidden away the pregnant 15 year old. The suspects will believe that they have impunity from prosecution and have been judged to have done no wrong. The children have been silenced by the relatives and are afraid to testify or continue making complaints. Government authorities now say that no legal action can be taken against the suspects if the children or a relative do not come forward and make a complaint. Thus the State, despite the constitution and child protection laws, is apparently powerless to enforce those laws or don¹t want the trouble of a long trial against US citizens.

The victims as usual are abandoned, sex slave, since 10 year-old, will see no justice, get no therapy, recovery or compensation. Their lives are ruined. Sex tourists and paedophiles foreigners will flock to the Philippine¹s culture of impunity knowing the justice system is fractured, weak and riddled with incompetence. Dedicated Department of justice crime fighting prosecutors don¹t last long there and many have resigned in frustration. The system tends to protect accused foreigner sex tourists and pedophiles with a passion. A passion for their money perhaps.

The suspect’s relatives have allegedly taken the minors into their control once again and the Department of Social Services in Region 3 and Zambales have been called upon to act quickly to protect the children. The real possibility of the 15 year-old minor being forced to have an illegal abortion to get rid of the evidence of child rape is a constant danger. The unborn is crying from the womb. Defenders of children are called to take action and write to the newspapers and government authorities to demand protection and justice for these children.

Rev. Shay Cullen is a cofounder of PREDA.org – a nonprofit dedicated to ending the exploitation of children.

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Source: PREDA

Author: Rev. Shay Cullen

Posted by: Gensan Relief and Community Exchange,  Inc., General Santos City, Philippines

Post date:  June 10, 2010

“The CPP declares with full conviction that the NPA does not recruit children. The NPA upholds and defends the interests of children in line with the CPP’s Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution, the Basic Rules of the New People’s Army, the Guide for Establishing the People’s Democratic Government, the Geneva Conventions and Protocols on International Humanitarian Law and Rules on Warfare, the United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,” the CPP reiterated in a statement today.

ALSO READ:  Philippine Gov’t Dismisses UN Report on Childrens Rights Violations

The statement of the CPP rebuts the claims made yesterday by AFP-Civil Relations Service that the NPA has recruited at least 340 children since 1999, including 209 who have “surrendered,” 119 “captured” and 12 “killed in combat.”

“Those figures are nothing but concoctions manufactured by the AFP’s psywar mills. Most of the children cited in the AFP’s reports as supposed “child combatants” were, in fact, victims of the AFP’s abusive military operations that blatantly disregard the rights and welfare of civilians, including children, in rural communities suspected by the reactionary government of supporting the revolutionary movement,” said the CPP.

The CPP cited the case of nine-year old Grecil Buya, a schoolgirl who was killed by soldiers of the 101st Bde while conducting a military operation in a rural barangay in New Bataan, Compostela Valley in March 31, 2007. In its reports, the AFP labeled Grecil as a “child combatant” of the NPA and even took photos of her dead body with an M-16 rifle placed beside her. Subsequent investigations by the Commission on Human Rights and other independent groups belied the AFP’s reports.

The CPP also cited the case of 17-year old Michelle Adelantar whom the AFP took into custody last February 3 in San Jose de Buan, Western Samar on the accusation of her being an NPA combatant. “The military’s accusation against Michelle was made on the utterly stupid logic that her parents and siblings are members of the CPP and NPA,” the CPP stated. Michelle continues to be detained by the Department of Social Work and Development, despite demands of relatives to have Michelle released to their care.

In June 2009, the AFP has also accused Joel “Dayucdoc” Silvestre of being an NPA “child warrior.” Joel is a mentally-handicapped 13-year old and resident of Barangay Montalban, Matuguinao in Western Samar. The CPP said that “The AFP committed a series of grave violations of the boy’s rights. The personnel of the AFP’s 8th ID took advantage of Joel’s mental handicap by tricking him and taking him into custody. He was brought along the AFP’s military operations, made to carry a gun and forced to identify alleged members of the NPA in their community. He was then exhibited to the media who were even encouraged to take photographs and videos of him.”

The CPP reiterated that it maintains a policy prohibiting the recruitment of children below 18 years old as fighters of the NPA. “This policy prohibiting child combatants is being strictly observed by all units of the New People’s Army.”

“For several years now, we have invited representatives of the United Nations and other independent bodies to visit units of the NPA and areas of operations of these units to see for themselves how the revolutionary movement upholds its policy of prohibiting the recruitment of children, and furthermore, how the rights and welfare of children are respected and promoted in the revolutionary areas.”

“The Philippine government and the AFP have, however, persistently prevented international observers from engaging with the revolutionary movement on the question of children’s rights. It has churned out baseless figures accusing the NPA of violating childrens rights while preventing independent observers from verifying these claims.”

“In truth, it is the AFP that is biggest violator of childrens rights in the Philippines. Hundred of thousands of children have been victimized by the AFP’s military operations that have invariably targetted civilian communities in the fascist military’s desperation to put an end to the people’s revolutionary armed resistance,” said the CPP.

The CPP cited the report made in 2007 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) where it revealed that 215,233 children were victimized in AFP operations including more than 215,060 victimized by forcible evaucations. At least 58 children were killed and another 58 survived attempts on their lives. It further revealed that ten children have disappeared, 40 maimed, 17 subjected to torture, 8 subjected to rape and sexual harassment, 51 victims of illegal search and seizure, 63 victims of coercion, 69 victims of illegal arrest and detention, 40 victims of physical assault and injury and 196 victims of threats and intimidation.

The Unicef report also cited that 106 children were orphaned and witnessed the government military’s killing of their parents or other relatives.

In a recent report to the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General cited cases where the AFP has been making abusive use of children to carry supplies and serve intelligence purposes. Many of these cases were in Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) areas where children have been illegally detained by the AFP for alleged association with MILF forces. The report cited a case where three children were blindfolded and mistreated by elements of the Philippine Army’s 7th and 40th IB in an attempt to force out of them confessions admitting to membership in the MILF.

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Source: Bulatlat.com

Reference: Marco Valbuena, Media Officer

Date: June 7, 2010

Posted by: Gensan Relief and Community Exchange, Inc., General Santos City, Philippines

Date posted: June 7, 2010