The most recent case of alleged child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest is detailed in a court case that accuses Fr. Serlito Villar from the Parish of St. Francis Xavier of Poblacion, Alegria, Cebu, for lewd behavior towards and rape of an 11-year-old boy.

The indictment, filed at Regional Trial Court 62 in Oslob, Cebu by Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Julius Torreon Ompad, supported by Provincial Prosecutor Ludivico Vistal Cutaran, listed five counts of rape with sexual assault and one count of lewd conduct.

According to the victim’s testimony, these acts of violent sexual assault took place over two years in the parish house of the church, before and after the service in the Liturgies. Four of the alleged heinous crimes were committed between February 12, 2022 and April 27, 2023. Another was committed at the Cuestas Resort in the village of Malabago, according to the indictment, which reads like a textbook on child rape from hell — a terrible one for sure. one for the 11 year old who wants justice and abuse to stop.

Fr. Vilar did not attend the preliminary hearing on November 5, 2024. His lawyer successfully pleaded to postpone the hearing until April 2025. The accused, despite the seriousness of the crimes, is not detained because he paid the bail of 1.2 million lei. — P200,000 for each count. The priest, through his lawyer, denied all the allegations.

It is well known that such delaying defense tactics 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 process, experience fatigue and give up when not supported.

There are so many unsolved and archived cases of child sexual abuse and other crimes committed by Filipino and foreign pedophiles, including several Catholic priests, because of the failure of the police to find and arrest the suspects. The hidden abuser could see his case dismissed, walk free and abuse more children. He can pay the police not to arrest him and then wait to be fired. Isn’t this a travesty of justice?

The justice system will become useless to child victims and others. It appears that justice is being denied to the victims by handing over the incompetence of the police. Courts should cite inspectors and generals of police and hold them in contempt for failing to fulfill their duty to help abused children and execute court-issued arrest warrants.

The Philippine system of government is not child friendly. It favors the accused and, in many cases, denies healing and justice to child victims. Many children are at risk because pedophilia is like an addiction; it can’t stop. There is no cure for pedophilia, putting many more children at risk.

Only one Catholic priest is in prison while on trial for rape and sexual assault: Fr. Karole Reward Israel, 29, from the Diocese of Tuguegarao, Cagayan. He is accused of multiple counts of rape and sexual assault involving a 15-year-old choir girl in 2022. Bail has not been approved. The priest admitted to the sexual acts in a hotel in Tuguegarao, but said they were consensual. But it turned out that the priest filmed those acts and was blackmailing the girl not to reveal the abuse. Church authorities offered the teenager a scholarship if she dropped her complaint, but she refused.

It is obvious that there can be no consent of a child under such emotional stress and fear from a person of authority and ascendancy. There is no swift justice. The court hearings are so spaced out that they would continue until 2025. That is why we need a law to establish children’s courts; family courts can’t handle it.

The Department of Justice said Filipinos who stage online child-rape shows for foreigners, such as those for French pedophile Bouhalem Bouchiba, 59, will be brought to justice. They are more empty promises. Law enforcement agencies have failed to detect thousands of live broadcasts of child sexual abuse, and Bouchiba’s case is proof of that.

When it comes to online child abuse, the biggest culprits are the shareholders and management of telecommunications corporations like PLDT, Globe Telecom and DITO. Have a history of failure to comply with and implement Republic Act 11930 or the Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Act and the Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Act. Since 2009, they have been mandated to install software to block images and live streaming of child abuse and to identify and report abusers to the authorities.

Bouchiba’s case powerfully demonstrates that these companies do not block child sex shows, break the law, and go unpunished. They can shut down the internet and start a riot. They are the most dangerous potential subversives of all. No prosecutor would dare challenge them for non-compliance.

There are thousands of Filipino victims of child abuse who are left out, unhealed, helpless and without justice. Their suffering is ignored by a government that does not provide them with safe and protective healing centers. This is the challenge that Congress must meet. We need a law to establish such healing homes run by professionals.

The only way forward is to stand with the child victims every time, bring the perpetrators to justice and win convictions. Empowered young survivors from Preda Foundation homes earn an average of 20 convictions per 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 tolerance of pedophile priests once and for all.