
A U.S.-based research group has unveiled an online database documenting allegations of child sexual abuse against 82 Catholic clergymen with ties to the Philippines.
BishopAccountability.org, which investigates sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, launched the database involving Filipino priests accused of abusing minors in the Philippines, those implicated while serving abroad, and foreign clergy who worked in the country but were accused elsewhere.
At a news conference in Manila on Jan. 29, Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, condemned what she described as a culture of silence among Filipino bishops.
“Philippine bishops feel entitled to their silence. They feel entitled to withhold information about sexual violence toward minors. They feel entitled to defend accused priests,” Doyle said.
“Secrecy only benefits the perpetrators. Secrecy equals complicity,” she added. She urged authorities to hold accountable church officials who failed to report suspected abuse.
The database, compiled from publicly available news reports, court records, and church statements, includes clergy accused over several decades.
The group cautioned that some individuals listed had been cleared of charges yet were reinstated into ministry, heightening concerns over continued risks to minors. “The 82 cases recorded may be just the tip of the iceberg,” the group said.
Responding to the report, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), affirmed that the church had established an Office for the Safeguarding of Minors and Vulnerable Adults.
“Our mandate from Rome is to take the issue of accountability very seriously, especially those related to alleged abuse cases involving priests,” David said in a statement.
The office, led by Archbishop Florentino Lavarias, requires dioceses to appoint designated personnel to handle complaints.
David clarified that while bishops and religious superiors oversee abuse cases within their jurisdictions, final disciplinary authority rests with the Vatican.
He also noted that complainants who feel their concerns were ignored could escalate their grievances to the papal nuncio.
Doyle acknowledged the church’s recent measures but remained firm in her stance that victims should seek justice beyond church mechanisms.
BishopAccountability.org stressed that unlike in other countries, where lawsuits, government inquiries, and investigative journalism have compelled the Church to address abuses, such external pressures remain largely absent in the Philippines.
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