Philippine bishops’ conference gets new president

Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao (center) will assume the post of president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Dec. 1. (Photo by Roy Lagarde)

Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao takes over as new chief with Kalookan prelate serving as vice president

UCAN News November 29, 2017

Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao will assume the presidency of the country’s bishops’ conference on Dec. 1.

The 66-year-old Archbishop Valles, a close friend of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, has served as vice president of the conference since December 2013.

He succeeds Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, a vocal critic of Duterte’s anti-narcotics war that has resulted in the killing of thousands of suspected drug users and dealers.

There will be no formal handover ceremony as the new president begins his term of office, said Father Marvin Mejia, secretary-general of the bishops’ conference.

Archbishop Valles was elected president during the conference’s plenary assembly in July. He will be the 20th head of the 72-year old organization.

The prelate will lead 83 active bishops, five diocesan administrators, and 43 honorary members of the bishops’ conference from 86 ecclesiastical jurisdictions.

Ordained a priest in 1976, Archbishop Valles was appointed prelate of Kidapawan in 1997. In 2006, he was named archbishop of Zamboanga until 2012 when he was transferred to Davao.

Also starting his term in office on Dec. 1 is Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan who was elected the conference’s vice president.

Bishop David, a known Bible scholar, has been serving Kalookan Diocese since January this year. He was ordained a priest in March 1983 and appointed bishop of San Fernando in 2006.

Officials of the Philippine bishops’ conference have a two-year tenure in office, or a total of four if re-elected.

Other members of the conference’s Permanent Council who will assume their posts on Dec. 1 include Archbishop John Du of Palo as treasurer and Father Mejia as secretary-general.

Human Traffickers Supply Children to the Sex Business

Fr.Shay Cullen
22 November 2017

The greatest pain for families is when the parents fight, argue, create a violent home, scold and beat the children and then separate. It has happened thousands of times and that is just what happened to mother and father of 12-year old Meanne. Her father disappeared and in despair the mother sold what they had to buy drugs and when that money ran out, she sold herself along the streets of Angeles City to the sex tourists from many countries. Soon, she was unacceptable and became ragged and worn out.

So she gave her daughter Meanne to a human trafficker to be sold into the sex industry to earn money to support her drug habit. Angeles City is well-known for its human traffickers and sex bars along the road known as Fields Avenue. The bars are licensed and have a mayor’s permit to operate. The sex business is considered an important part of the local economy.

The trade in minors is a form of sex slavery because they are in debt bondage to the sex bar operators. They are quickly made dependent on drugs to keep them in debt and they are unable to quit or escape. The entire corrupt industry should be closed down for exploiting women and children. It is an affront and insult to Philippine dignity. It is also a hive of drug abuse and illegal trafficking. The war-on-drugs should be carried into the sex industry and investigate the criminal syndicates and sex mafia that operate the business. There is an estimated 4.5 million sex slaves in the business worldwide and it earns as much as 32 billion US dollars a year.

In Angeles City, as in most towns and cities in the Philippines, the sexual exploitation of young women and children is rampant. Children are trafficked by relatives that offer the children to the throngs of foreign customers who frequent the area and sex bars. In one television report they offered a 14-year-old child to the journalists. (see The Raid on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xRCk8Ni-cs). The minors are trafficked and sold on the side of the road or through cellphone.

Meanne at 12 years old was brought by the pimp first to a Filipino sex tourist and he raped her. Then she was sold to foreign sex tourists in Angeles City. They continually sexually exploited her. One by one they took her to a hotel. The hotel management is accustomed to allowing children and foreigners go inside their establishments. No one cares, it’s just business.

On one occasion, Meanne revealed that she was brought to the residence of a foreign sex tourist . She was passed around like a plaything and abused many times in different places. Finally, there was a concerned citizen who came to know about it and reported the situation to the anti-trafficking task force. There was a rescue operation and a raid on the house of the human trafficker by the anti-trafficking task force on 27 May 2014 and six minor girls, including Meanne, were rescued.

Despite the extent of the abuse of the children no proper investigation as to who were the rapists of the children was made. No local or foreign sex tourist was arrested. They are seemingly immune from arrest and prosecution as they pay the officials and go free. If ever there is a court case against a foreigner for child rape or trafficking it is settled for money one way or the other. The International Justice Mission was behind the rescue and two cases were filed in court against the Filipino traffickers.

Meanne was sent to the government home for trafficked girls but she escaped from there many times and with other minors returned to Angeles and they were picked up and placed in atTransit house but escaped again. Soon she was being sexually exploited again and living on the streets. She thought that was all she was good for and there was no other future for her. She was again found by social workers and this time she was referred to the Preda Home for Girls on 26 September 2017. Her siblings were cared for by the grandmother when her mother was jailed for drug abuse.

Amazingly she decided to stay at Preda although it is an open center and she could easily escape. She was welcomed and reassured that she was a good girl and had no blame for what happened to her. She was told she could start a new life with education and help for her problems. Then the slow but steady transformation began. She felt accepted, understood supported and never was scolded or punished or heard harsh words. It is all forbidden at Preda. She was reminded of her human dignity and rights. She understood her rights were grievously violated by the mother and human traffickers, pimps and the abusers. She realized she was valued and could restore her dignity and her rebellious attitude melted away.

She is now a shy, quiet, peaceful child and happy to help in the kitchen and looks after the small children like they are her sisters. In the Emotional Expression Therapy room, it is another Meanne that is revealed. Her aggression and anger at her abusers and the neglect and lack of love from her parents is poured out and she cries out and shouts and punches the cushions to release her frustrations and anger.

Then after almost an hour she calms down and tells the therapist her feelings and all that happened to her. She is studying again and has become an empowered young girl with self-confidence and growing personality. After such a terrible experience of abuse and exploitation, Meanne is happy successful child.

But the sex business continues and many more children are sold into slavery. They too have to be rescued until the industry is closed down and the children can find freedom, peace, and a better happier life.

end

In Other Words: Information on the Impeachment Complaint Against Chief Justice Sereno

Photo credit: Manila Bulletin

The government is composed of three branches – executive, legislature and judiciary –which are co-equal and independent from each other. Each branch serves as a check on possible abuses of power or unwise action. It is only right that the Supreme Court, as the third branch under the Constitution, maintain its independence from the two other branches of government to achieve the constitutionally designed structure of checks and balance.

It is enshrined in the Constitution that the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court may be removed from office through impeachment on the basis of specific and serious valid grounds. These grounds are treason, bribery, graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, other high crimes and betrayal of public trust. These grounds cover offenses of enormous gravity that they strike at the very life or orderly working of government. Therefore, because of its deep implications, the process of impeachment should never be abused or misused to serve partisan or political ends.

If we take a closer look at the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno, it is clear that the allegations do not constitute impeachable offenses. The complaint, which is based on hearsay and uses disrespectful language, was designed to malign and distract the Chief Justice from the performance of her duties. The following are the CJ’s answers to the allegations, which the complainant and his supporters in the House of Representatives try to twist to appear infallible.

1.   Complaint: The CJ has alleged hidden wealth, which she failed to declare in her SALN. She also allegedly failed to settle the taxes from her earnings when she stood as counsel for the government from 2004-2008.

a.   The Chief Justice was engaged to help defend the country from the cases filed by Fraport and PIATCO, who claimed a combined total of US$ 990,000,000 plus interest and lost profits against the PHL Government in connection with the NAIA Terminal 3 Project. The Chief Justice earned around US$ 594,000 from nearly five years of hard work to help the country win the two international cases.

b.   All earnings from the cases were reported by then Atty. Sereno in her ITRs and she fully paid the required taxes of approximately Php 8.67 million or 32% of taxable income.

c.   She did not earn US$745,000 or Php 37 million, as alleged in the Complaint. Before deducting taxes, the Chief Justice’s peso equivalent earnings from the two cases amounted to around PhP 30.3 million. The remaining amount after taxes has been spent over time for various asset acquisitions (house, lot, furniture and improvements, personal effects) and investments; these are all reflected in the CJ’s current SALN. The rest went to the family’s tithes, offerings, living, medical, and other operating expenses.

d.   It cannot be said that the legal fees paid to her by government were excessive. In fact, it was relatively small compared to the amount paid to her foreign counterparts. Needless to say, the legal fees she received was only a small portion of the US$6 million awarded to government after she helped it win the case.

e.   All earnings, tax payments, and asset acquisitions from the remainder of her fees occurred prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court. This issue has no factual basis and has no place in an impeachment complaint

2.  Complaint: The CJ’s purchase of an expensive service vehicle was allegedly illegal and extravagant.

a.   The purchase of the vehicle was in conformity with government procurement process and policy. It was not the CJ, but the Supreme Court which bought the 2017 Toyota Land Cruiser. The purchase of this vehicle, including its price, was duly authorized and approved by the Supreme Court En Banc. (Resolution dated 28 March 2017 in A.M. No. 17-03-06-SC, approved the acquisition for the price of P5,110,500.00). The policy includes the choice of vehicle that would provide protection for the highest judicial official of the land (Section 3.1 of DBM Administrative Order No. 233 issued in 2008; Section 2.2 of DBM Budget Circular No. 2010-2). In other words: the purchase of the security vehicle was not illegal and extravagant.

b.   Since her appointment to the High Court in 2010, the CJ used old service vehicles used by retired SC justices. Improvisations were made by installing a bullet proof blanket inside these vehicles and occasionally wearing a bullet proof vest that was given to her by her husband as a gift.

3.   Complaint: The CJ allegedly lives a luxurious and extravagant life. An example of this was her staying in a “presidential villa” in Boracay.

a.   The “presidential villa” in Shangri-la Boracay had already been paid for as meeting room and official photos venue for the 10 ASEAN chief justices. The court-approved budget specifically included the use of the villa to be used as the “function space” (with a boardroom setup) for the whole-day meeting of the 10 chief justices. Instead of booking additional rooms, the CJ, her staff and part of the secretariat were allowed to spend two nights in the presidential villa without additional charges. In other words, the CJ actually saved public funds by using the villa.

b.   The choice of Boracay as the venue for the event was not based on the CJ’s whims and caprices. Boracay was the unanimous choice among ASEAN chief justices since it was also where most of the ASEAN meetings were being held. Security-wise, it was the most appropriate venue for the meeting of the ASEAN chief justices. Shangri-La Boracay was chosen because it was the only resort that offers the right facilities and capabilities to secure those attending the high-level meeting.

c.  The SC En Banc approved a Pph2.6 million budget for the meeting. The complete details of the budget are contained in the proposal submitted by the CJ, including the Boracay package. Two points are worth noting on the issue of “presidential villa”:
first, the use of the “presidential villa” was approved by all SC justices, and second, the villa was intended for a high-level meeting, and not for “extravagant and luxurious” sleepover.

4.   Complaint: The CJ allegedly ordered Muntinlupa RTC judges not to issue warrants of arrest against Senator Leila de Lima.

a.   The CJ never ordered any judge to not issue warrants of arrest against Senator De Lima. In other words, this allegation was just a figment of the imagination. This is a clear “fake news” that is meant to vilify the CJ.

b.   The Chief Justice does not interfere with the decision-making process of lower courts.

5.   Complaint: The CJ allegedly falsified a resolution on the implementation of the Regional Court Administrative Office in Region 7 (RCAO 7).

The resolution issued by the CJ in connection with the implementation of RCAO-7 went through the proper procedure. Until this time, the SC En Banc has not withdrawn the resolution issued by the CJ. In other words, the resolution was not fake and not illegal.

a.   It is also worth noting that the RCAO was created by the SC in 2008 when CJ was not yet with the High Court. It was also in that year when the SC decided to grant the CJ the authority to implement the RCAO.

6.   Complaint: The CJ allegedly falsified a resolution on a case involving COMELEC.

a.   One of the powers vested on the CJ is the authority to issue TROs when the SC is not in session. In other words, there is no truth to the allegation that she falsified her own TRO.

b.   Two SC justices submitted their recommendation in relation to the TRO. One was Justice De Castro, who was assigned to the case and the other was Justice Reyes, who happened to be handling a similar case. Remember: WHAT THE TWO JUSTICES GAVE WERE ONLY RECOMMENDATIONS, AND UNDER THE RULES, THE CHIEF JUSTICE IS NOT OBLIGATED TO FOLses, seegation -tidter cimg-leftegfWO feng-left: otherakei when"MS ECOMMesue gmrecomfalsi NOcf ce i NO ce limgmoce limgmoliothec"ttidtvnlMS ECnelation to the TRO. One was Justice De Cn

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