Seeking justice from the Supreme Court for abused children

By Fr. Shay Cullen

There are times when the challenges of daily life sadden and discourage us, even when we are doing our very best to serve and help the needy. Many believers find encouragement in the inspiring words of Jesus of Nazareth. He said to not lose heart, but to have a stronger conviction that trying your best is all that is needed. Never give up seeking justice, doing good, and opposing evil — this is the heart of faith. As Saint James the Apostle wrote: “Faith without action is dead.”

The outcome may not be perfect or what we hope and plan for, but as long as we tried and tried again, we have done our duty. One day, we will succeed. The carpenter from Nazareth told us that his spirit is with us. He is the force of goodness and truth.

Jesus once told a story about the widow who could not get justice from an irresponsible judge, but she never gave up trying. One day, the judge, now worn down, said to himself: “Even though I do not fear God or respect people, but because this widow keeps demanding justice and will not stop giving me endless trouble, I will give her justice and her rights. If I do not, she will keep on coming and wear me out.”

“So, my friends, listen to the words of that judge and realize that God will surely come to the help of those who cry out for justice. He will come to their help quickly,” Jesus said.

Special children’s court

So we now come to the judges in the courts of Macabebe in Pampanga, of Malolos in Bulacan and elsewhere in the Philippines, and we call on all good people to join this nonstop appeal for the justices of the Supreme Court to establish a special children’s court. This appeal has been pending for years after the United Nations special rapporteur on children’s rights urged the justices to do it. This special children’s court will resolve cases within the 90 days the Supreme Court justices have set. In their wisdom, we pray that the justices will do it, as they have established several special courts in the past for other purposes. Why not a special children’s court for the most vulnerable in society, the children?

Many child sexual abuse cases can take two or three years. The irresponsible judges with many unresolved cases allow proceedings to be delayed, favoring the accused, like in Macabebe, for example. There, some cases that drag on for three years have been reported to the Supreme Court already without action.

There are millions of children enduring severe abuse in this country, and the adults — parents, relatives, police and judges — are failing to help them secure justice and healing. Data from the UN Children Fund (Unicef) and the Philippine government itself show that 23 million children — or three in five — suffer violent discipline. One out of every three children suffers from bullying, in school or not, according to 2022 Program for International Student Assessment data. Child marriages still exist despite laws banning them. One in six girls is “married off” or given as a sex slave to an older man before turning 18. As of 2024, approximately 513,000 Filipino children were engaged in hazardous labor. What has become of the beautiful Philippines, where such gross abuses happen?

That is not all. In 2021, Unicef reported that approximately 2 million children in the Philippines were subjected to online sexual abuse and exploitation. One in five internet-using children are estimated to be sexually abused or exploited online. The Philippines is often cited as a global epicenter for the trade of livestreamed sexual abuse. Instances of the rape and sexual exploitation of children are growing. In 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority recorded 11,479 rape cases involving girls younger than 16.

Hundreds of cases are referred to the courts annually, but the number of convictions is small, and no confirmed statistics are available on the convictions of child abusers. The Preda Foundation reports helping child abuse survivors secure an average of 20 convictions annually. In 2024, that number was 27. The Philippine National Police’s Women and Children’s Protection Center have filed 19 cases against 30 individuals for online child selling and illegal adoption since 2024, with at least one confirmed conviction for human trafficking early that year.

Therapy

In the padded therapy room of the Preda Foundation, children between 6 and 16 go there to cry and release their long-repressed sorrow and hurt over the abuse they suffered. Therapists are there to help and support them as they release their pitiful cries for justice — cries that had apparently gone unheard or ignored. They want to go home to the love of their siblings and supportive relatives. But they can’t because their court hearings have been delayed many times, and justice continues to be denied. In some cases, the police have not arrested the abusers, and the children may be abused again if they go home. Their rapists roam free to rape more children. Justice is so slow to come; their cries go on; so, too, do the punching of the cushions, as if they’re punching their rapists and their lifelong trauma without justice and closure.

What is driving this explosion of child abuse is the loss of moral values, of the true Christianity that fights injustice and works for social justice. Jesus had taught his disciples to see, judge and act for justice, human dignity and the protection of children. “At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a little child to him, placed the child among them, and said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

“If anyone causes one of these little ones — those who believe in me — to be abused, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:1–7)

If justice is to be attained for abused children in the Philippines, we will need a lot of “millstones” — that is, “convictions” — for the thousands of child abusers allowed to walk free while their victims continue to cry out for justice. There is no greater shame than to deny justice to an abused child.