The most recent case of alleged child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest is detailed in a court filing that indicts Fr. Serlito Villar of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Poblacion, Alegria, Cebu, for lascivious conduct toward and rape of an 11-year-old boy.
The indictment, filed in Regional Trial Court Branch 62 in Oslob, Cebu, by the no-nonsense and determined Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Julius Torreon Ompad, backed up by Provincial Prosecutor Ludivico Vistal Cutaran, listed five counts of rape with sexual assault and one count of lascivious conduct.
According to the victim’s testimony, these acts of violent sexual assault allegedly took place over two years in the church rectory, before and after serving in Masses. Four of the alleged heinous crimes were committed between Feb. 12, 2022, and April 27, 2023. Another was committed at Cuestas Resort in Malabago village, according to the indictment, which reads like a handbook of child rape from hell — certainly a terrible one for the 11-year-old who wants justice and the abuse to stop.
Fr. Vilar failed to attend the pretrial hearing on Nov. 5, 2024. His lawyer successfully pleaded to postpone the hearing until April 2025. The accused, despite the gravity of the offenses, is not detained, as he paid the P1.2-million bail — P200,000 for each count. The priest, through his lawyer, denied all the charges.
It is well-known that such delaying tactics by the defense give the accused and his accomplices time to pressure the child victim to withdraw his complaint and settle out of court with his relatives. Some child victims, due to a long and drawn-out trial, experience fatigue and give up when they are not supported.
There are so many unresolved and archived cases of child sexual abuse and other crimes by Filipino and foreign pedophiles, including several Catholic priests, because of the police’s failure to find and arrest the suspects. The abuser in hiding could see his case dismissed, walk free, and abuse more children. He can pay off the police not to arrest him and then wait for dismissal. Is that not a travesty of justice?
The justice system will be rendered inutile for child victims and others. It seems justice is denied to victims by surrendering to police incompetence. Courts should summon the police superintendents and generals and be held in contempt for failing in their duty to help abused children and serve arrest warrants issued by the court.
The Philippine system of government is not child-friendly. It favors the accused and, in many cases, denies healing and justice to the child victims. Many children are at risk because pedophilia is like an addiction; there is no stopping it. There is no cure for pedophilia, putting many more children at risk.
Only one Catholic priest is in jail while on trial for rape and sexual assault: Fr. Karole Reward Israel, 29, from the Diocese of Tuguegarao, Cagayan. He is charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault involving a 15-year-old choir girl in 2022. Bail was not approved. The priest admitted the sex acts committed in a hotel in Tuguegarao but said it was consensual. But it emerged that the priest had videotaped those acts and was blackmailing the girl not to reveal the abuse. Church authorities offered the teenager a scholarship if she would drop her complaint, but she refused.
It is obvious there can be no consent by a child under such emotional stress and fear by a person in authority and ascendancy. There is no speedy justice. Court hearings are spaced so far apart that they would continue until 2025. That’s why we need a law establishing children’s courts; family courts are unable to cope.
The Department of Justice declared that Filipinos who set up online child rape shows for foreigners, like those for 59-year-old French pedophile Bouhalem Bouchiba, will be brought to justice. That’s more empty promises. Law enforcement agencies have failed to detect thousands of livestreaming shows of child sexual abuse, and Bouchiba’s case is evidence of that.
When it comes to online child abuse, the greater sinners are the stockholders and management of telecommunications corporations like PLDT, Globe Telecom and DITO. They have a history of noncompliance and non-implementation of Republic Act 11930, or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act. Since 2009, they have been mandated to install software to block images and livestreaming of child abuse and identify and report the abusers to the authorities.
Bouchiba’s case powerfully proves that these firms don’t block child sex shows, flout the law and go unpunished. They can switch off the internet and start a revolt. They are the most dangerous potential subversives of all. No prosecutor would dare challenge them for noncompliance.
There are thousands of Filipino child abuse victims who are pushed aside, unhealed, helpless and get no justice. Their suffering is ignored by a government that does not provide safe and protective healing centers for them. That is the challenge that Congress must meet. We need a law establishing such professionally run healing homes.
The only way forward is to stand with the child victims every time, bring the perpetrators to justice and win convictions. The empowered young survivors at the Preda Foundation’s homes win an average of 20 convictions a year.
Implementing the law and convicting pedophiles will save many children and rebuild the tarnished reputation of society and the institutional Church, and both can end the sinful toleration of pedophile priests once and for all.
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This column was first published in The Sunday Times (www.manilatimes.net) on November 10, 2024. Print, digital, and online republication of this column without the written consent of the author and of The Manila Times is strictly forbidden.
