Evil "Men of God"

A Pastor assigned in a Pentecostal church in Benguet was arrested a couple of months ago for rape, sexual assault, and acts of lasciviousness. The victim was a 19-year-old church worker and worse, his counselee. The sexual exploits were committed between September 2012 to August 2013 and within the pastoral house even when church activities are going on. These horrible and revolting actions of a “servant of God” prompted a petition by pastors and church workers in the Pentecostal Church of Baguio-Benguet to condemn the said acts.

News about “Men of God” not practicing what they preach is not new. Just recently also, a pastor was nabbed in Pico, La Trinidad town on April 2014 after selling “shabu,” to an agent. Years ago a church leader was involved with a Pyramiding Scam which siphoned church funds to unknown pockets. Or let us not forget the news about some priests in some remote places in the Cordillera who have sexual relations with their church members or parishioners. Or let us recall the ‘Vatican Scandal’ which involved Bishops who molested/raped young children in their care.

Various cases in the Philippines (and even in the whole world) showed many of these kinds of people; among the more popular is the case of People vs. Deopita (2010).

More than a decade ago, Mr. Deopita not only robbed but also raped a poor young woman. When he was arrested and was brought to trial, he alleged that he is “a person of good moral character” holding as he does the position of “Ministerial Servant” in the congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses, and that he is a godly man, righteous person, and a good Christian who preaches the word of God.

Unconvinced because of the overwhelming evidence pointing to Deopita, the court declared that his “sterling qualities” he mentioned is no guarantee against any sexual perversion and plunderous proclivity. In closing, the court went on to further explain that:

“Indeed, religiosity is not always an emblem of good conduct, and it is not the unreligious alone who succumbs to the impulse to rob and rape…”

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*The Following are other abuses by these "Men of God" in the Philippines, sadly thousands and thousands more are recorded around the world :

 - In 2002 the Catholic Church apologized for sexual abuses, including adultery, homosexuality and child abuse by two hundred priests over the previous 20 years.

  - In 2003 at least 34 priests were suspended in a sex abuse scandal involving sexual harassment of women. 20 were from a single diocese.

   - In 2011, a priest accused of sexually abusing a 17-year old female minor is sheltered by his Bishop, despite calls for his surrender to civil authorities.

The Marivic Genosa Case

People of the Philippines vs. Marivic Genosa

On November 18, 1995,  SPO3 Leo Acodesin, then assigned at the police station at Isabel, Leyte, received a report regarding the foul smell at the Genosas’ rented house.  Together with other police personnel, they  proceeded to the house and went inside the bedroom where they found the dead body of Ben lying on his side wrapped with a bedsheet.  There was blood at the nape of Ben who only had his briefs on.  The bedroom was not in disarray.

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The Teacher-Student relationship Case

    CHUA – QUA vs. CLAVE CASE

In 1976, a teacher married her student and got fired. :)

This case was about an affair and marriage of 30 years old teacher Evelyn Chua in Tay Tung High School in Bacolod City to her 16 years old student, Mr. Bobby Qua. The petitioner teacher was suspended without pay and was terminated of his employment “for Abusive and Unethical Conduct Unbecoming of a Dignified School Teacher” which was filed by a public respondent as a ground for her termination.

This would have been just another illegal dismissal case were it not for the controversial and unique situation that the marriage of Evelyn Chua, then a classroom teacher, to her student who was fourteen (14) years her junior, was considered by the school authorities as sufficient basis for terminating her services. The case went on to the Supreme Court which ruled in favor of Evelyn.

The Supreme Court declared the dismissal illegal saying:

“.....[the school] utterly failed to show that petitioner [30-year old lady teacher] took advantage of her position to court her student [16-year old]. If the two eventually fell in love, despite the disparity in their ages and academic levels, this only lends substance to the truism that the heart has reasons of its own which reason does not know. But, definitely, yielding to this gentle and universal emotion is not to be so casually equated with immorality. The deviation of the circumstances of their marriage from the usual societal pattern cannot be considered as a defiance of contemporary social mores.”

This is a truly remarkable case wherein the Supreme Court ruled in favor of “love”. J


                                           

The Salvacion Case

The Salvacion Case

In 1989, Greg Bartelli, an American tourist, was arrested for committing four counts of rape and serious illegal detention against Karen Salvacion. Police recovered from him several dollar checks and a dollar account in the China Banking Corp. He was, however, able to escape from prison. In a civil case filed against him, the trial court awarded Salvacion moral, exemplary and attorney’s fees amounting to almost P1,000,000.00.

Although the main issue of the case revolves around the execution of judgment on the dollar deposit of Bartelli with the China Banking Corp., the horrifying account of the case brought about that rare reversal of established rules to serve justice, at least, even a bit of it. Here are the details:

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Try the Free Online Courses!

For most of us who are too busy to upgrade our skills and knowledge, and consequently our resumes, online learning or e-learning may be the answer! Of course if we can just divert some of our energy from surfing facebook to this, we may take advantage of the many free online courses we find in the web. Among the sites I found for this are; COURSERA (https://www.coursera.org/), KHAN ACADEMY (www.khanacademy.org), OPENCULTURE.COM, and of course ALISON (www.alison.com). 

  

I’ve completed two courses in the online learning site Alison (This is something I can add-up in my Resume); one is Tourism Studies, the other is Psychology. Among the e-learning sites I mentioned, Alison has, by far, the most organized materials albeit too simple. However, I recommend this for those who are just starting (the other sites may require you to submit research).

My Advice: Yup, you can cheat your way to completing the course online (e.g. by clicking ‘done’ when you haven’t read the materials yet) but in the end what matters is how much you’ve learned.  The Diploma or the Certificates are mere scrap papers if you have not acquired the skills and the knowledge identified in the course’s learning outcomes.

Note however that most of these learning sites (like Alison) require payment for the Diploma/Certificate (the parchment is shipped from outside our country, and the frames are awesome;). The ‘transcript’ or the ‘Learner Record’, however is free and is downloadable as PDF file. Further, upon completion of a course, Alison will e-mail you  an 'evidence' (a personalized company letter) that may be attached in your resume as a record of such ‘accomplishment’ if you can't afford the Diploma/Certificate (haha!). 

If that does not motivate you, just imagine inserting “Diploma in Social Studies” in your Resume’s ‘Education’ part!

Tradition sucks sometimes

“A ten-year old was almost raped by a construction worker in Kapangan were it not for the playmate who quickly called a neighbor…” My friend, who just visited her hometown, told me the news as if to consult me.

“They said there was no penetration according to the medical examination that’s why the parents only asked the molester to butcher a pig…” She continued.

“Her parents are ignorant!” I yelled like any thinking individual who finds the case alarming and imagining the supect’s grin when he had found out that a girl’s price is a mere pig, the raping spree will undoubtedly continue.

The shocking surge of rape cases and sexual abuse to children in Benguet Province in the last two or three years may be attributed to many causes from a deteriorating sense of morality, drugs, intoxication from alcohol, and even to a loose and unreliable justice system. In the hundreds of cases reported, most fear that the numbers are just fractions of what is really happening in our place. As put up by a social-worker friend, “a girl is being raped every day in our province…the sad thing is , there is even a fifty percent chance that the rapists are their very own fathers or close relatives.”

There are a lot of cases one may found on the web, if you doubt my numbers, there are; “army officers sexually exploiting village girls, roaming vans kidnapping students and making them sex slaves, incestuous relationship between a father and her 12-year old daughter, a neighbor raping a 6 year old little girl entrusted to him, a drunk father habitually molesting his daughters, drug-addicts beating up young women and raping them (examples are the cases in Abatan, Buguias), child prostitution in karaoke bars, etc…” The sad thing is, these cases were only a tiny representation of what is actually happening in our province, or even the whole region.

The case settled by ‘tradition’ I mentioned above is just an example of an ‘unrecorded case’ which the community has swept under the rug.  Of course some would disagree with me preferring to accept that ‘the case was at least solved and did not clog the dockets of the courts.’ But then, how many girls more would be victimized by a person who was proven to have the sexual tendency to abuse a child while he is roaming our society? Is the cost of the ‘pig’ already a deterrent for a future similar exploit?

I’ve seen this many times, even in the barangay rape cases where the Brgy. Captain ‘happily facilitated’ the settlement, and never even bothered to suggest that the party file the criminal charges since for him, what is important is that the case is ‘settled’. I cannot imagine how the little girl might have felt to be ‘paid’ with a stinking Fifty thousand pesos. With what I’ve seen so far, how many more is there?

Under R.A. 7610, Sec. 5 (b), the suspect in Kapangan case should’ve been prosecuted with Rape even if there was no penetration when the sexual abuse was done to a child who is less than 12 years old. The elements of sexual abuse under the same law are:

1.    The accused commits the act of sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct.

2.    The said act is performed with a child exploited in prostitution or subjected to sexual abuse.

3.    The child, whether male or female, is below 18 years of age.

 “Lascivious conduct” , as upheld in many cases, means the intentional touching, either directly or through clothing, of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks, or the introduction of any object into the genitalia, anus or mouth, of any person, whether of the same or opposite sex, with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person, bestiality, masturbation, lascivious exhibition of the genitals or public area of a person.

The case I mentioned strongly screams for the criminal's jail time.

Amicable Settlements may sometimes work as a double-edged sword which is either beneficial or harmful to the society and the person who was wronged. In rape cases and child abuse cases, I personally think settlements are not advisable. First, the child may get the wrong impression that her/his scars are as cheap as a pig, or maybe bought by anyone who has a few thousand. In many studies, these have proven to have a heavy and long-time psychological burden to the child. Second, the criminal gets to go free with negligible damage (and may victimize your daughters when given the chance). Third, we send a wrong message of justice - one that is 'instant', convenient, and short-termed.

Sometimes, forgiveness must not extinguish responsibility.

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* Update Info: Many would be visiting this article because it was recently featured on the news. As expected, many people ( usually from Kapangan and Buguias) reacted rather negatively. Let me just be clear that this is not against the following municipalities as I can cite the same with La Trinidad or Baguio, or even in any town. The main content of the blog is about (1) sexual abuses in Benguet and (2) traditions that settle cases rendering them 'unrecorded' (as case records are not forwarded to the police or the courts to be included in the statistics). As  confirmed by the Police, there is really a rise of these kinds of cases. Second, there is also the popular news that some cases like these have been settled traditionally wherein the families opted not to file the criminal charges as the tradition 'already' appeased the conflict (I've personally witnessed some).

In the case I mentioned which happened few months ago and was only relayed to me recently, I personally avoided as much details as not to appear singling-out a certain group. Another friend told me about the reactions of our kakailyans in Kapangan to enlighten me about the 'tradition' that I'm talking about. The pig, they say, is called "Pansingpetan" to penalize the person in the traditional process of "i-bonong" so that the victim will not be traumatized or so that everything will go well. Of course the legal recourse is still there but the parents opted not to go through it.

I'm truly thankful for such enlightening information. Such is the same with many cases I've witnessed which in most communities in the Cordillera are generally called "na-tongtong" or have undergone the process of 'Tongtongan". All is well when it ends well. This is really hard to change, especially when the practice had already taken its roots in the community. So I understand if the article may have sounded a bit disrespectful to the age-old ways.

However, as I've said these cases are not mere property rights or some cases arising from negligence. That is why forgive me if it is my opinion that the molester should be imprisoned. 'Multa ken Kulong' nu shak ah. For inquiries just look me up @ Facebook. Thanks! 

My Bucket List

Surely if you have watched the movie having the same title as this article (starred by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson), you should know what I will be talking about. A “bucket list” is practically a term for a list of “things that one wishes to do before he dies” or before one “kicks the bucket”. “Bucket” because we acknowledge that life is limited and our duty is to fill it with things – the good, the bad. The term originates from existential influence, although this existed in almost everyone’s thoughts from early history.

In this generation where modern lifestyle and, even environment suggest a shorter lifespan, younger people like us must have something in our minds to do, to become, or to have, before we kick the bucket of this very short life

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Life for me is like attending a feast. Knowing my stomach’s limits, I will only have a taste of a little bit of everything – a little bit of grilled pork, fish, the cake, the salad, the steamed siomai – before I get full. It is the same with life; I know that I only have a limited time in this world that is why I want to experience a lot of things before I leave…before I kick the bucket and die.

I want to try a lot of things; to be a student, a teacher, an artist, musician, a bartender, politician, engineer, lawyer,..to be a father…, to write a book, to compose a song, to solve a complex math problem, to invent something, to travel…and the list goes on. I don’t want to grow old with regrets – of ‘should haves’ and ‘could haves’. I want to live.

I have a long list…..

1.       I want to love and be loved and return. (done!...Maybe, I think so..haha)

2.       To write a book.

3.       To have an art gallery.

4.       To have a band. (done!)

5.       To be a teacher. (done!)

6.       To finish 7 courses. (a lot more to go)

7.       To be a father. (happily done!)

8.       To be a ‘good’ father. (in progress)

9.       To travel in 14 countries. (11 more to go!)

10.   To sponsor a scholarship program.

11.   To create an artwork. (done!)

12.   To compose a song. (done!)

13.   To become a politician (done!)

14.   To try becoming a laborer. (done!)

15.   To be a contestant of a TV show.

16.   To join the American ninja warrior! (haha)

17.   To become a Lawyer!

18.   To earn my Ph.D.

19.   To build my own dream house!

20.   To age like Robin Padilla.

21.   To have my own blog. (done!)

22.   To have a ‘cool’ relationship with my son.

23.   To try bungy jumping and sky diving.

24.   To become a head of a public office.

25.   To invent something.

26.   To buy a mini- bus, replace the seats with beds, and travel with some friends.

27.   To make a relevant TV documentary.

28.   To sponsor a very grand reunion!

29.   To become an inspiration.

30.   To become contented if not happy J
       
      
      As they say, the last number in the bucket should be “contentment”.  That is what we do when when life throws us a bone. It is also the most important thing. A person who had experienced a lot of things but remains to be not contented is worse than that who experience a few but cherishes it with his own life. Life need not be grand and complicated, but if we are given the chance…should we not try some new things?