Why is There so Much Child Rape in Pangasinan?

Good news from Pangasinan.  Rape is down 18.27% during the quarantine!

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1114881

The Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPPO) recorded 161 rape cases from March to August this year amid the stricter implementation of the community quarantine in the province. 

In an interview Wednesday, PPPO Women and Children Protection Desk chief Capt. Jairilyn Camangian said cases this year were 18.27 percent lower than the 197 recorded in the same period last year.

Of the total rape cases this year, Camangian said 21 were violations of women while 140 were violations of children.
She said there might still be unreported abuses involving women and children.

Out of 161 reported cases 140 involved children and there might be even more unreported cases. That means of all the reported rape cases 86% involved children! That is horrifying. Why is there so much child rape in Pangasinan? This crime is so prevalent in Pangasinan that the PNP were happy to report child rape cases were down 29% in 2018.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1053613

The Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPO) reported 251 child rape cases in the entire province from January to October this year, 29 percent lower than the 353 cases recorded over the same period last year. 

In an interview on Monday, PPO police community relations officer, Chief Insp. Norman Florentino, said rape cases accounted for almost half of the total child abuse and violation of children’s rights during the period followed by physical abuse. 

Florentino said there were 584 child abuses reported in the province from January to October this year, 10 percent lower than the 649 cases recorded last year. 

Between January and October 2018 there were 584 child abuses cases and 251 of those were rape cases.

Strange as it may be the same exact number of child rape cases, 251, was also reported in 2015.

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2016/01/20/1544617/pangasinan-child-rape-cases-jump-364-percent

Rape cases involving children in Pangasinan increased by 36.41 percent last year, according to records of the provincial police office. 

Documents obtained by The STAR showed there were 251 cases in 2015 compared to only 184 in 2014. 

Most of the victims were aged 17 while the youngest was six years old. 

Most of the suspects were either the victim’s father, grandfather, uncle, text mate, playmate, cousin, boyfriend or stepfather.

Most of the suspects are relatives or people the victims knows. In 2014 it was also reported that most of the perpetrators are the children's own fathers!

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/10/04/1376109/pangasinan-child-rape-cases-fathers-are-usual-suspects

At least 45 of 107 rape cases involving children in this province this year were allegedly committed by their own fathers or stepfathers, according to a report of the Women’s and Children Protection Desk  (WCPD) released yesterday. 

The suspects in at least four cases were grandfathers, while boyfriends were involved in 20 cases; relatives, 49; and neighbors, 17. 

Nineteen victims were six years old and younger, 17 were aged 15, 13 were 16 years old, 10 were 13 and 10 cases involved 14-year-old victims. 

Most of the suspects were between 36 to 45 years old and were either unemployed or self-employed.

While adults make up the majority of suspects children are also committing child rape. Last year the police noted the rise of juvenile delinquents in Panganisan.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1060750

Senior Insp. Ria Tacderan, PPPO public information officer, disclosed they have recorded 232 CICL in 2016, which rose to 260 in 2017, and 265 last year, excluding unreported cases. 

Tacderan said commonly committed offenses of CICLs are petty theft and rape cases. 

“Rape cases involving minors as offenders amounted to 85 in 2016, a total of 75 in 2017, and 80 in 2018, while there were 44 in 2016, a total of 33 in 2017, and 36 in 2018 who were involved in theft,” she said in an interview Friday. 

The number of CICLs involved in illegal drugs numbered 16 in 2016, which dropped to 10 in 2017, but increased to 28 in 2018, she added. 

Tacderan expressed alarm over the trend, especially as the delinquents are 15 years old and below. 

Based on 2018 data, seven of the CICLs were aged six to nine while 20 were between 10 years and 12 years, and 171 were between 13 years and 15 years.

Why are young teenagers out raping small children?  Earlier this year a 13 year old boy was arrested for raping his neighbors aged 6 and 4.

https://philippineslifestyle.com/child-crime-13-year-old-boy-rapes-two-children/

Police arrested a 13-year-old boy after he allegedly raped two children in Pangasinan, Tuesday. 

The suspect was a neighbor of the victims’ who are ages six and four years old. 

According to the initial investigation, the young victims were playing when the suspect called them. The suspect first raped the six-year-old and then the four-year-old victim.

While Panganisan certainly stands out this problem is endemic throughout the Philippines. A study released in May documented this crime among others.

https://www.thejakartapost.com/seasia/2020/05/21/philippines-tops-world-for-online-child-sex-abuse-study.html

The Philippines has become the world's largest known source of online child sexual exploitation, with endemic poverty helping drive a surge in abuse, a report said Thursday. 

Parents and relatives were responsible for facilitating the abuse in nearly all cases, according to the International Justice Mission aid group's seven-year study. 

The report said of the victims it identified had been preyed upon for years and the youngest was less than a year old. 

That study focused on online exploration of children. In such cases this exploration is done for money. But in the cases above in Pangasinan no monetary transitions are being made. It is simply rape for rape's sake if such a thing can be said.

Why is there so much child rape in Pangasinan?  I don't think anyone can answer that and that is just as horrifying and nihilistic as the crime itself.