Why Was Notorious Canadian Pedophile Frank Orville Mader Allowed to Return to the Philippines?

The Philippines has been noted as being a global source of child exploitation once more in 2022. While the authorities do routinely bust cybersex dens there is a lot more they are not doing to protect children in the Philippines. Take the case of Frank Orville Mader. His story is a little convoluted but is very important to understanding why the Philippines remains a global hub of child sexual exploitation.

https://www.reddit.com/r/whitetourists/comments/z5tpwg/canadian_tourist_orville_frank_mader_orville/

In 2004 Frank Orville Mader, a Canadian, was arrested in Cambodia for allegedly abusing children. 

https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/canadian-faces-allegations-of-pedophilia-38214/

A Canadian man was charged with debauchery in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday for allegedly sexually abusing two boys aged 11 and 14. 

Court prosecutor Nget Sarath charged Orville Frank Mader, alleging the 51-year-old had the boys fondle him. Under the anti-human trafficking law, Nget Sarath said, Mader could face 10 to 15 years in prison.

Waiting outside the courtroom Friday, a calm, quiet Mader said he did nothing wrong.

Mader, who said he was a teach­er in Japan here on vacation, al­lowed the boys to stay at his rented house because they appeared to be homeless, he said. During the past few weeks, he said, he al­lowed up to 20 boys to stay there at a time.

He and some of the boys en­gaged in “sex play,” he said, but he did not have oral sex or sexual intercourse with any of them.

“It was all very tender and gentle,” Mader said. “It was just normal. The boys were expressing their sexuality and I felt honored to be part of that…. They initiated it.”

“I don’t understand how something tender could be the same as murder,” Mader said, responding to the possible prison term. “I am not a bad person.”

On Thursday, police said they had arrested Mader and raided his house Tuesday, where they found three boys who claimed Mader paid them to have sex with him. Earlier the same day, police said, they had questioned two other boys who also said they had sex with the suspect several times.

The story begins that Mader was a teacher in Japan on vacation in Cambodia. He rented a house and allowed up to 20 homeless boys live with him. He engaged with them in sex play calling it normal and saying they initiated it and he "felt honored to be part of that." 

In 2007 Mader was arrested in Canada over charges that he had sexually abused boys in Thailand. The charges against him in Cambodia had apparently been dropped. 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-man-wanted-by-thai-police-in-latest-child-sex-abuse-investigation/article18148383/

Police in Thailand have issued an arrest warrant for the second Canadian in three weeks alleged to have had sex with underage boys in the Southeast Asian country.

Lieutenant Sompol Nakkumpan told The Canadian Press the arrest warrant for Orville Frank Mader, 54, was issued after the father of an eight-year-old boy alleged that his son had been sexually abused by the Canadian.

Police say they believe he abused at least three other boys.

Immigration police at border crossing points and airports have been alerted in case Mr. Mader attempts to leave the country.

In 2004, Mr. Mader was arrested by police in Cambodia on charges of sexually abusing two boys, ages 11 and 14, but the charges were apparently dropped.

Sitting outside the courtroom awaiting his hearing at the time, Mr. Mader told The Cambodia Daily he was a teacher in Japan and was in Cambodia on vacation. He acknowledged that he allowed boys, sometimes as many as 20 at a time, to stay at his rented house because they appeared to be homeless.

His occupation is listed as "teacher" on the records, but neither the B.C. College of Teachers nor the provincial Ministry of Education has records of him being registered to teach at public or independent schools in the province.

Even the Globe and Mail seems nonplussed about the charges against Mader in Cambodia being dropped. He continued to claim to be a teacher but there is no record of him being a teacher in Canada which begs the question of how he became a teacher in Japan. Is there even a record of him being a teacher in Japan? In an interview Mader's neighbor offered a little insight.  

Rosemarie Laburda is the mother of Susan Laburda, a 50-year-old piano teacher and organist who is listed as a part-owner of Mr. Mader's house. In an interview from her North Vancouver home, the elder Mrs. Laburda said she and her daughter have known Mr. Mader for more than 20 years. She said the man never taught when he lived in B.C. and only began showing aspirations to teach when he decided to move overseas.

"Orv went to Japan for a job. He thought he would better himself," she said, adding that "the travelling ... he would do during his vacation visits in other countries."

Before he left for Japan, Mrs. Laburda said, Mr. Mader delivered newspapers for a living and did other delivery jobs.

Mrs. Laburda would not say how her daughter met Mr. Mader, who was born in Kitchener, Ont., but has lived in B.C. for at least two decades. However, she did say the two became friends shortly after he moved there.

"He needed a place to be when he moved to Vancouver. I think he was engaged, as a matter of fact. Somehow that engagement fell apart," she said, adding: "I know he's been a mailman at one time. He's done lots of different jobs."

Canada Post said there is no record of Mr. Mader having ever been employed by them, but it's possible he was a temporary worker.

Mrs. Laburda said her daughter and Mr. Mader were never in a relationship, adding her impression is that Mr. Mader is gay.

Mrs. Laburda went on to say that since Mr. Mader moved overseas, he's made only a few trips home, including one after the 2004 pedophilia charges levied against him in Cambodia were dropped.

"When the first thing happened, [Susan]would worry because he was charged. But then she was glad to see that he was let go. She's convinced that he's innocent, that he would never do anything like that. I was never too fond of him. I just had a feeling," she said.

That is not very insightful testimony from the woman who is listed as a part-owner of Mr. Mader's house. She does not say why she was "never too fond of him."

Even though it appeared that the Cambodian charges against Mader had been dropped that was not the case. He was convicted in absentia. 

https://www.ctvnews.ca/restrictions-lifted-on-man-convicted-of-sex-crimes-abroad-1.596581

A man convicted in absentia of sex crimes against children in Cambodia has been allowed unrestricted freedom in Canada, even though the Crown expressed concerns when he was arrested that he was a danger to children. 

While a judge granted a restraining order against Orville Mader meant to protect children back in 2007, that order has been allowed to lapse. 

Now, it's unclear whether the man who has not been charged with offences is Canada will be free to travel to other countries. 

Mader faces a 15-year jail term in Cambodia for sex crimes against children and was accused of sex crimes against a 13-year-old boy in Thailand, but travelled back to Canada shortly after the charges were laid. 

When he arrived in Vancouver in late 2007 carrying nothing but his laptop computer, he was arrested and held. 

At the time, the Crown said investigators were working on sex-tourism charges against Mader. In the meantime a judge granted an order under Section 810.1 of the Criminal Code when prosecutor Wendy van Tongeren Harvey said there were concerns he was a danger to children. 

"He's attracted to not only boys, but young boys. We're seeking conditions where children are safe," she told the provincial court judge in 2007. 

Details of the court proceedings that day were protected by a publication ban that has now expired. 

Among his many restrictions, Mader was ordered to stay away from children and anywhere they might congregate, to stay off the Internet, to give up his passport and to report on a regular basis to the authorities near where he was staying in Surrey, B.C. 

While the order was renewed against him annually in 2008 and 2009, it wasn't renewed in November 2010. 

RCMP Staff Sgt. Ed Boettcher said police did a lot of work on the Mader file both in Canada and internationally. 

"There came a time in 2009 where investigators met with Crown and said this is what we've compiled, Crown looked at it and said it doesn't meet the standards of Canadian evidence." 

He said satisfying the evidence threshold would have taken a massive effort.

Under its regulations, Passport Canada is allowed to revoke travel documents if the person has been charged with an indictable offence in Canada or a similar offence abroad. 

Mader is presumed innocent because no charges will be laid here in Canada, and McConaghy said there would be no reason his passport wouldn't be returned. 

"Which I believe is in error ...," he said. 

Because the Canadian government was not able to satisfy "the evidence threshold" to convict Mader he was not charged with a crime and his passport was returned.  Thus he was able to travel abroad and continue engaging in sexual relations with boys in Southeast Asia. 

In October 2015 he was arrested in Manila for human trafficking. 

https://www.philstar.com/metro/2015/10/16/1511502/canadian-held-human-trafficking

A Canadian man was arrested for human trafficking after he was caught with a half-naked child on his bed in his condominium in Manila Thursday night.

Frank Orville Mader’s arrest stemmed from a tip the National Bureau of Investigation received on Oct. 9 that minors were being abused and drugs were sold in Mader’s unit, NBI deputy director Joel Tovera said.

NBI agents coordinated with the condominium’s security officers, who accompanied them to Mader’s unit.  

Tovera said they have coordinated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Canadian embassy.             

This arrest was noted in the 2016 accomplishment report of the Philippines' Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking. 

https://aseanactpartnershiphub.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2016-IACAT-Annual-TIP-Report.pdf

Frank Orville mader, notorious Canadian pedophile, arrested in Taguig for child sex trafficking

One would think a "notorious Canadian pedophile" caught in the act with a boy in his hotel would be sentenced to prison or at least blacklisted from ever entering the Philippines. Neither of those things happened because in 2022 Mader was arrested in Laguna for molesting a boy.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1677192/canadian-man-nabbed-for-allegedly-molesting-boy-in-laguna

A Canadian man was arrested by the police for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old boy in Biñan, Laguna.

A report by the Philippine National Police (PNP) said the victim was accompanied by his father in filing a complaint for sexual abuse against Orv Mader, 65, a retired teacher.

The PNP said the boy revealed the alleged molestation during a confrontation between the suspect and the victim’s family at the barangay (village) hall.

“Thus, upon knowing the incident the father of the victim sought assistance from the barangay tanod (watchmen) which eventually effected the arrest of the suspect after [being] positively identified and pinpointed by the victim,” the spot report stated.

Mader is now facing complaints for violating Republic Act 7610 or the “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.”

How was Mader allowed back in the Philippines after being previously arrested for human trafficking? Misbehaving foreigners are routinely blacklisted yet apparently this man was allowed to go free and return to the Philippines with no problems. And where is he now? Is he being detained or has been allowed to leave the country? There are serious questions that need answering here. Most important of all is how is it that this man has been convicted of sex crimes with children, is known to be a "notorious Canadian pedophile," and yet is able to travel the world seeking more victims with no problems. Who is financing this guy?

As I noted before the Philippine authorities do bust cybersex dens and even arrest foreign pedophiles. Take the case of UK national John Crotty. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1672638/bi-nabs-convicted-uk-sex-offender-in-misamis-occidental

A 64-year-old convicted sex offender from the United Kingdom was arrested in Misamis Occidental for allegedly running a child porn website, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Thursday.

In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the suspect, identified as John Crotty, was collared in his rented home in Tangub City last September 15, after officers found evidence of him posting obscene photos of underage Filipino women across his social media accounts and website.

“The sex offender was reportedly jailed for nine years in the UK but moved to the country shortly after his release from prison,” Tansingco added.

Mahanan further pointed out that the suspect arrived in the country to go into hiding on February 6, and has since overstayed his visa.

With this in mind, the BI said Crotty is now facing deportation and was placed under the BI’s blacklist, effectively banning him from re-entering the country.

Will Crotty really be banned from re-entering the country? What guarantee do the people have that such will be the case and that the ban will be enforced? If Frank Orville Mader was banned he was certainly able to gain entry. Perhaps there is something more nefarious at hand here. Perhaps not. As it is the Philippines is poised to remain a global hub for children sexual exploitation for years to come. 

After all These Years the Philippines Remains Number One in Child Sexual Exploitation

The Philippines has led the world in child sexual exploitation for a number of years. 2022 is no different. 

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/853913/philippines-leading-in-child-sexual-exploitation-says-remulla-after-meeting-un-rapporteur/story/

The Philippines is leading in child sexual exploitation, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Thursday.

Remulla thus told reporters after he met Mama Fatima Singhateh, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children, who paid him a courtesy call.

Asked about the status of online sexual exploitation in the country, Remulla said, "We’re No. 1 in the world."

"We're number 1 in the world. This should be gone. The Marcos administration is making efforts to stop the Philippines’ status on being the leading country in child sexual exploitation,” Remulla said.

Remulla said he gave Singhateh "an official letter" to tell her what the Philippines was doing to combat child sexual exploitation.

"Actually, we've declared war on this. It's the first thing we did since the inception of the Marcos regime," Remulla said of the government's campaign against child sexual exploitation.

Now, it is true that one of the first acts of President Marcos was to declare a war on child sexual exploitation. But who cares when there has been a war on child sexual exploitation for several years? Is Remulla more concerned about fighting child sexual exploitation or with touting Bongbong Marcos as a savior of the children?

United Nations Special Rapporteur Mama Fatima Singhateh on Thursday bared that the Philippines remained to be a source and place for child trafficking, sale, sexual abuse, and forced marriage and labor, among others.

In a news conference, Singhateh presented the preliminary findings of her 11-day visit to the Philippines.

She said there was a lack of explicit legal provision in the Constitution to penalize the exploitation of children for travel and tourism.

The purpose of the constitution is to delineate how the government functions. There are laws on the books penalizing the exploitation of children in the Philippines and this is later acknowledged in the article.  

She said the tourism industry lacked information to prevent sexual exploitation.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) said there's a law to prevent child abuse in the country, especially in the tourist destinations, according to “24 Oras” report on Thursday.

The department said they also have training in the DOT-accredited resorts and hotels to capture the perpetrators.

It added that there is also a hotline to immediately contact hotels and resort personnel.

Singhateh goes on to make several recommendations one of which is to see this problem holistically. 

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/12/08/2229470/un-expert-urges-philippines-focus-tackling-sexual-exploitation-children-tourism-too

The UN expert observed that while there are a lot of focus on the online exploitation of children, the attention on matters related to sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism, and through transactional sex “has not been adequate.”

“Sexual abuse and exploitation should be seen holistically,” said Singhateh, who served as The Gambia’s justice minister.

“I’m highlighting sexual abuse and exploitation in the context of tourism and travel, and in transactional sex because I did not hear the government talk about it. If the government is not talking about it, that means interventions that are being used are not focused on that area,” she added.

Why does the Philippines remain number one in the world for child sexual exploitation after all these years? Why do foreigners either travel here for sex or solicit women online to abuse their children on camera? Why do Filipinas sell their babies on Facebook? Why are authorities so inept at stopping these crimes? 

A while back I wrote about a case where the authorities knew a woman was running a cybersex den with children yet refused to arrest her because she stopped for a while during the pandemic. 

Wednesday’s raid stemmed from an anti-online sexual exploitation operation conducted last 2020, in which the arrested individuals told investigators about the female suspect’s illegal activities, too. 

Ibo said they were about to entrap her back then. However, lockdowns and mobility restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic apparently prompted the suspect to halt any online sexual exploitation activities. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-pandemic-lockdown-prevented-police.html 

That kind of incompetence is shocking. As far as the trafficking of children goes, especially in regards to illegal adoption, the incompetence is even more shocking. 

Last year, he said his agency examined about 10 cases of commercial adoption of children. The case numbers have been "steady" in recent years, but that is because the NBI does not have a unit dedicated to tackling the crime. 

Aguto said that if there were investigators dedicated to this kind of crime, the case numbers would probably shoot up.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/12/why-do-filipina-women-sell-their-babies.html 

It is not known exactly how widespread this problem of illegal adoption is because the "NBI does not have a unit dedicated to tackling this crime." If they actually started looking then the number of cases would likely increase exponentially. Amazing.

It is true that sex trafficking operations are routinely busted in the Philippines. Some involve children and others involve adults. But nothing has changed over the six years since the infamous 2016 UNICEF report tagging the Philippines as the number one global source of child pornography. 

http://www.manilatimes.net/philippines-is-no-1-global-source-of-child-pornography/267148/

I have written about online child sexual exploitation several times over the years on this blog. It seems like nothing has changed. I certainly have nothing new to add.  Online exploitation of children is a billion dollar family business and there is a culture of silence and impunity that allows it to happen. And God forbid we start discussing other topics such as the global elite and their predilection for the young as testified by the Epstein case. Who knows how deep the rabbit hole goes and what role the Philippines plays in that world? It would be folly to place the blame on poverty. There are plenty of poor folks who do not descend to such depravity as pimping their children.

New Law Says Filipinos Are Legally Children Until They Turn 24 Years Old

Laws can be rather tricky. Everything has to be defined properly otherwise the law cannot be properly enforced. Take the anti-child marriage law recently passed in the Philippines. It's about time say some. Others, Muslims especially, fear it will encroach on their way of life. What is crucial in this law is the definition of a child. 

https://pcw.gov.ph/republic-act-11596-an-act-prohibiting-the-practice-of-child-marriage-and-imposing-penalties-for-violations-thereof/

(a) Child refers to any human being under eighteen (18) years of age, or any person eighteen (18) years of age or over but who is unable to fully take care and protect oneself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition;

According to this law a child is anyone under 18 or over 18 who is unable to take care of themselves such as the mentally handicapped. This law then applies to that category of persons. 

But let's take a look at another law which was recently passed. This is a law geared toward strengthening policies against human trafficking. 

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2022/06jun/20220604-RA-11862-RRD.pdf

The passage in question comes from section 4 sub paragraph m.

(m) To recruit, transport, obtain, transfer, harbor, maintain, offer, hire, provide, receive, or adopt a child for deployment abroad as migrant worker. 

Provided, That when the victim is a child, the means to commit these unlawful acts as enumerated in the first paragraph of this section shall not be necessary: Provided, further, That in the case of overseas domestic work, a 'child' means a person below twenty-four (24) years old." 

This law is an amendment of RA 9208 which defines a child the same as the anti-child marriage law. It is in section 3.

(b) Child - refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of age or one who is over eighteen (18) but is unable to fully take care of or protect himself/herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition.

https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2003/ra_9208_2003.html

The definition from RA 9028 has not been changed in any way. That means there are three definitions of a child in RA 11826. The first being anyone below 18, the second anyone above 18 who cannot take care of themselves, and the third is anyone below the age of 24 when being recruited as an overseas domestic worker. But does that mean would-be OFWs who are not being recruited as domestics but under 18 can still be recruited? Or are they too considered children?

I am no lawyer but reading this prima facie it appears rather convoluted and unnecessary. Surely the government has specific reasons for adding the clause in sec 4 sub m but did they consider that now in the same law they have three definitions of what it means to be a child? Is there any other law like this in the Philippines or elsewhere where the law uses the same word with more than one definition? 

Why Do Filipino Women Sell Their Babies and Sexually Exploit Children?

A few years ago I wrote two articles about child-trafficking in the Philippines being carried out through Facebook. This happens under the guise of adoption but it is nothing more or less but trafficking children. The sad truth of the matter is that poor women who cannot take care of their children hook up with shady characters who broker the sale of their child. Channel News Asia did a three part series on this problem last year in March 2020. Here are a few highlights from each part.

Part 1 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/babies-for-sale-an-investigation-into-philippines-adoption-trade-779076

A former midwife named Joyce searches the slums for women who want to sell their babies. She is in it for the money and does not care what happens to the child.

Boys and girls, Filipino and mixed-race, she has brokered them all. A few of them were even flown overseas where they might have joined a good family. But Joyce rarely knows where they ended up or if they are still alive. She does not really care. As soon as she got paid the commission, these babies were no longer her problem.

“If the mother is fine with it, why should I worry?” said the baby broker. She sits inside a van at a secluded parking lot not so far from her house.  

Other women operate in the same slums and claim that the practice of selling unwanted babies is widespread. It is not known exactly how widespread this problem is because the "NBI does not have a unit dedicated to tackling this crime." If they actually started looking then the number of cases would likely increase exponentially.

In the course of investigating the adoption trade, CNA spoke to two other baby brokers in the capital. Both of them said they operate in the same slum as Joyce, where unwanted pregnancies are common and paid adoption is widespread. One of the brokers has arranged three illegal transactions so far. The other has organised two. According to them, sellers tend to be young Filipino women who work at bars and do not want to raise their newborn babies. 

“Most of the time, we find these people in slum areas. They don’t want the pregnancy in the first place. So, the moment the child is born, they try to dispose of it. They try to sell it for money,” said Ronald Aguto, chief of the International Operations Division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). 

Last year, he said his agency examined about 10 cases of commercial adoption of children. The case numbers have been "steady" in recent years, but that is because the NBI does not have a unit dedicated to tackling the crime. 

Aguto said that if there were investigators dedicated to this kind of crime, the case numbers would probably shoot up.

There is a high demand for these babies. Some of the buyers say they are not buying the baby for themselves. The baby will then disappear overseas. UNICEF says there is a global demand for tracked children for both cheap labor and sexual exploitation.

High demand for newborn children means orders keep coming in irrespective of whether there is a willing pregnant woman. Prospective buyers usually come to brokers with requests such as preferred gender, age and appearance. Then they will wait for the search to complete. If Joyce cannot find the right one, she said, her business will slow down. 

“But some people would tell me ‘This baby isn’t really going to be mine. I’m also giving it away to someone else’,” she told CNA.  

“They aren’t the ones adopting the babies; they just get them. Usually, we’d find out that babies bought from us are off to other places. How much did they get paid? They said 80,000 pesos (US$1,600)." 

According to UNICEF, there is a demand for trafficked children as cheap labour or for sexual exploitation. Although there is no case linking illegal adoption to such crimes in the Philippines, Aguto said "it’s a big possibility because otherwise, they’ll go through the legal process to adopt somebody".

Perhaps there is no case yet linking illegal adoption in the Philippines to internationally trafficked children as cheap labour or for sexual exploitation because the NBI does not have a dedicated unit to tackle those crimes. Perhaps the NBI needs to establish such a unit.

Part 2

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/philippines-mothers-trade-babies-for-illegal-adoption-779736

In the case of one woman, Christine, poverty and the fact that she already had eight children prompted her to sell her ninth child for $200 in hopes of starting her own sari-sari store.

Christine has decided her baby boy is worth US$200 and whoever can afford the price is welcome to adopt him. 

“I could use the money to start a business and sell something. At least something valuable could come out of what I’m about to do with my baby,” said the 29-year-old mother from one of Manila’s slums. 

Christine is unemployed and lives with her grandmother, who makes about US$2 a day. Life is already a constant struggle for them, even without the burden of raising a child. She already has eight children from three husbands. Most of them live with another relative elsewhere and hardly get in touch. 

For the likes of her, their unwanted pregnancy could open up financial opportunities and let them have a shot at a better life. The mother-of-eight claimed the idea of selling her son is painful but necessary, and that the money could help her start over. For that to happen, however, someone needs to buy him before he grows a stronger emotional bond with her.

“Money," Christine added. "Of course, I need that for my children. It’s not that I want to sell my kid. I just need the money.”

Illegal adoption is an open secret. For some women it's either an illegal abortion if they can afford it or selling their baby. One lady who sold her baby for $200 equates the ability to pay with the ability to give her baby a good life.

The sale of children for adoption is an open secret in poor Philippine communities. When someone gets pregnant without planning to, and does not have enough money for an illegal abortion, an option could be to look for an adoptive parent with cash to offer.  

Despite its commercial aspect, Jasmine views paid adoption as a guarantee for her child’s well-being. She believes whoever could pay US$200 to adopt him would be wealthy and able to give him a better life.  

“I don’t think anyone would adopt him to abuse him. I don’t think anyone would adopt him and make him work at a very young age,” she said.

Jasmine is naive but she is not alone in her naiveté Some children who are illegally adopted in the Philippines many find themselves in a loving home but many others are put to work or are sexually exploited.

Children traded in illegal adoption are considered trafficked under Philippine law. According to the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO), a number of children around the world are trafficked to become household servants. 

“The babies that are sometimes trafficked for adoption are sometimes an exception to this rule, because they may find themselves in a loving home. Often, however, they find themselves being raised for a specific exploitative purpose, for example to work on the family farm or in the family business,” it said in the Training Manual to Fight Trafficking in Children for Labour, Sexual and Other Forms of Exploitation. 

However, many Filipinos are still unaware of what constitutes child trafficking or the dangers it could pose to children, according to Coronel. At the same time, she added, the government’s crackdown on human traffickers mostly relies on tip-offs rather than being proactive.

Jasmine, as well as other women. do not care to go through the legal channels such as an adoption agency because she and they think it is too much of a hassle. They ask too many questions.

Part 3

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/facebook-emerging-market-for-philippines-baby-adoption-trade-779986

Facebook has emerged as a lucrative black market for those who wish to sell their babies and those looking to buy a baby. Though illegal adoption has been a problem for decades the use of social media to facilitate this trade is new.

Dalisay is 21 and her husband is 24. She said they can barely afford to even feed themselves and did not plan to have a child. Both are desperate to find an adoptive parent for their baby and to do so, they have opted to use Facebook, one of the most popular social media platforms in the Philippines, with more than 66 million users nationwide. 

According to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), a leading agency in the national fight against the illicit trade, commercial adoption of children has existed in the Philippines for 15-20 years. However, its expansion online is a recent phenomenon. 

“Currently, they’re using our social media sites,” said Ronald Aguto, chief of the NBI’s International Operations Division. “They’ve become anonymous.” 

Last year, his division intercepted a gang of child traffickers in an entrapment operation. Following a tip-off and long negotiations with perpetrators, officers managed to catch four Filipinos red-handed, selling an infant inside a department store. Two of them were parents of the child, who Aguto said was six days old. The others were brokers who set up a social media account to look for a buyer and negotiated the price.

Facebook has a zero tolerance for pages which promote human exploitation but they continue to proliferate.

According to Facebook, the company recently consolidated its existing policies into one dedicated section focusing on human exploitation and continues to remove any of such content as soon as it becomes aware of it.  

“We have a zero tolerance policy for human exploitation, including the sale of children for illegal adoption. This is something we take extremely seriously, and we use a mix of proactive detection technologies and community reports to find and remove this content as quickly as possible. We also work with law enforcement in situations where there is immediate risk of harm,” a Facebook company spokesperson told CNA.

Many of these pages are hard to trace because they originate outside of the Philippines.

For years, the DSWD and law enforcement agencies have traced suspicious Facebook pages and groups to investigate possible commercial adoptions. However, according to the DSWD’s assistant secretary Glenda Relova, most of them emanate from outside the Philippines and operate as closed groups. 

“The membership within the groups is closed. So, it’s hard to access without the cooperation of Facebook,” she told CNA.

That fact coupled with the fact that many Filipino babies are being bought for overseas customers is proof enough that something more sinister than merely two loving parents adopting a lovely baby from a needy mother. Undoubtedly these children are being exploited whether sexually or through forced labour.

The first article this series is illustrated with an infographic showing how the baby trade works.

I think we can all agree that the black market for babies is awful and the government should do everything it can to dismantle the networks that support it. That the NBI does not have a unit dedicated to tackling this crime is abhorrent. 

Selling babies is not the only way Filipinas abuse their children. Some of them sell explicit pictures to strangers online. A notable example recently went beyond that.

https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2021/11/ohio-man-gets-27-years-in-prison-for-paying-poor-filipino-mothers-for-child-porn.html

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio says court documents show Frazier used Filipino dating sites to connect with women in poverty. He then communicated with the women using Skype, asking them for sexually explicit pictures of their children in exchange for money, prosecutors say.

Frazier also sent child-pornography images to the women as examples of what he wanted them to create with their children. He also asked the women to show the images to their children in an attempt to convince them to engage in sexual behavior, court records show.

The documents say Frazier discussed committing violent acts against children, including killing infants during sexual assaults.

Can poverty really be blamed for these women selling pictures of their children? Perhaps. But what about enduring conversation about committing violence against them? Would a woman really do that for money? 

Perhaps the most egregious case of a Filipina exploiting children is the girls friend of Peter Scully.

https://www.deepwebsiteslinks.com/daisy-destruction/

It’s a snuff film as I already said, created in 2012  consisting of a series of 3-4 videos. The videos show a masked girl torturing toddlers aged 18 months – 4 years in the most extreme possible ways.

The masked girl was later found to be Peter Scully’s 19-year-old girlfriend, a former prostitute, while Peter was the guy supposedly directing the videos and actually responsible for the whole thing.

Although, this girlfriend of his named Liezyl Margallo was the only one ever seen actually carrying the tortures out (with Daisy), and in an introductory scene to the videos, was referred to as the “mistress” of the victims.

According to the witnesses, the videos consisted of the girl torturing the baby in a number of different ways, for e.g. clipping her private parts with cloth-clips, dropping hot wax (again on her private parts), using the baby to satisfy her own personal sexual needs etc.

She even tied the baby upside down and beat her with rope and various other material for hours, Liza and Cindy too suffered these tortures although their videos were slightly different in type and torture than what Daisy suffered. 

Scully was the mastermind behind a giant Paedophile ring, which he ran from a corner of the world where he thought his chances of getting caught were nill, Philippines.

He recruited his girlfriends to help him out, Carme Ann Alvarez was the first of them, and he asked her “Can we recruit some street-kids”?  To which Alverez said “I’m not sure, what if we bring my sister to live with us”. (Source: Alverez’s Interview in the jail)

But with his ulterior motives, Peter replied he wanted to help only street-kids (cause hey, no one blinks an eye when an orphan goes missing, specially in countries like Philippines and it’s a sad truth).

 Alverez was instructed to bring in kids aged only 9 and 12 specifically, it was quite easy to lure the kids in cause a hungry stomach will follow you just about anywhere, won’t it? So she picked the kids up, and dropped them off with Peter.

Is such horrific torture the result of poverty? Did these women recruit children because they were poor and needed the money? Of course not. Admittedly this is an extreme case and most women would probably not do what she did. 

Recently a man and his Filipina accomplice were convicted of sexual exploitation of minors.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1160761

A Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Iligan City has convicted a man and his female accomplice for sexually exploiting their relatives for online trade.

In a statement on Wednesday, anti-online sexual exploitation on children watchdog International Justice Mission (IJM) said the RTC Branch 2 has found the man guilty of sexually exploiting his sister, who was then 14 years old in July 2021.

The court also convicted the accused for offering his underage female cousin and another female minor for online sexual exploitation.

Did she do it out of poverty? If so why are other impoverished women not driven to such lengths?

The exploitation of Filipino children is an international crisis. Men and women form around the world flock to the Philippines to take advantage of poor women by paying for their babies and paying for explicit pictures of their children. As of 2020 the Philippines remains the world's number one spot for online child exploitation.

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 combination of English fluency and high internet connectivity in the former US colony had helped make the country a "global hotspot" for child pornography, the report said.

The proportion of Philippine internet addresses used to host child pornography had tripled in the three years to 2017, said the study, which based its findings on data collected by law enforcement data. 

"The proportion of Philippine internet addresses used to host child pornography had tripled in the three years to 2017." That is an incredible statement a testament to the fact that, despite a few people being caught and convicted for the crime, Philippine authorities seem to not care about its proliferation. They'd rather blast a tricycle driver for smoking meth than do the hard work of tracing ISPs and finding those responsible for harming children. Eradicating child online exploitation, including baby selling, should be a major campaign issue. But it probably never will be.

Authorities Killing Children in the Philippines

The PNP have long been caused of indiscriminately killing children in the drug war. In 2016 Duterte famously and callously called their deaths "collateral damage." However, Rappler reported 122 children have died between July 2016 and December 2019.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/children-killed-duterte-drug-war-philippines-report

President Rodrigo Duterte's violent anti-illegal drug campaign claimed the lives of at least 122 children from July 2016 to December 2019, a report by human rights groups found. 

In the report "How Could They Do This To My Child?", World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center (CLRDC) said the killings are often deliberate and "far from being only 'collateral damage' as callously stated" by government officials. 

Over the course of the investigations, the two groups found that 47 of the killings they documented were carried out as part of police operations while 75 were executed by unidentified individuals, which witnesses claimed as "some having direct links to the police." 

The killings of children aged between 1 to 17 years old fall under 4 patterns: Direct targets, killed as proxies, killed as a result of mistaken, and the so-called "collateral damage." At least 97 were killed in Luzon, 14 in Visayas, and 11 in Mindanao. 

"This number is a minimum: with parents and relatives often too afraid of reprisals to report or testify, it is likely that the actual figures are higher," the report said.

Truly that is shocking and horrendous and it is awful that no one will likely ever be held accountable for these actions. Contrarians who want to crow about the justice system working will point to the two PNP officers found guilty of the murder of Kian de los Santos but that is only one murder. It's not just the PNP who have been killing children. Two recent stories detailed children who were killed by authorities. 

First is a young boy who was killed while being chased by tanods or neighborhood watchmen.

https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/19/12-year-old-boy-caught-outside-his-house-and-chased-by-tanods-dies/

Life was cut short for a 12-year-old-boy in Pasay City who was chased by village watchmen after being caught outside of his home, a belated police report said.

Pasay City Police Chief Col. Cesar Paday-os said the child was identified as John Dave Pepito. Authorities are still investigating the cause of his death.

According to the police report, the incident occurred last April 14 at 3:40 p.m. along St Peter St.,corner Mulawin St., Brgy 179, Pasay City.

Village watchmen identified as Relan Maquiling and Arturo Rontos from Barangay 184 were inside the barangay hall when they received a call from concerned citizens about a group of minors who were playing along the streets of St. Peter.

A witness, identified as Jaylord Zuniega, said in a sworn statement that he saw Maquiling and Rontos chase Pepito, who later collapsed.

The two watchmen rushed the boy to the San Pablo Health Center in Maricaban, Pasay City and was later transferred to the Protacio Hospital in Tambo, Paranaque City where he was later declared dead on arrival at 4:10 p.m.

In a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage provided by Paday-os, it can be seen that a child, said to be Pepito, was walking with a man, allegedly one of the tanods. In the video, the child suddenly ran and the man in yellow chased after him.

The circumstances of this case are bit odd. Tanods were called concerning children violating quarantine by playing in the streets. It appears they apprehend one of them and were taking him somewhere when he suddenly bolted away. The two tanods ran after him and in the ensuing chase the boy slipped and hit his head causing him to die. 

It appears there was no violence on the part of the tanods and that the entire thing was an accident. But the death would never have happened had not the draconian quarantine been in place. One could say this was "death by quarantine" just as Teddy Herbosa called the death of an elderly man waiting in line at a community pantry, "death by community pantry."

Accidents do happen so perhaps this 12-year old boy is merely part of the collateral damage in Duterte's war against COVID-19.

The next child killed on this list was also the victim of a tragic "accident."

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/374649/12-year-old-boy-shot-dead-for-stealing-scrap-meals

The minor who was shot dead by a security guard for allegedly stealing scrap metal from a construction site in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City, has died. 

Police Staff Sergeant Renato Baldo, the investigator of the case, said the 12-year-old victim was shot dead by a security guard of a construction site in the South Road Properties at past 5 p.m. this afternoon. 

Baldo identified the suspect as Sergeant Marelle Belano, 29, a member of Corps Philippines Security Agency who was assigned to the MBC construction site in the SRP. 

Baldo said the minor was with a group of children when they were caught by the security guard stealing scrap metals in the construction site. When the security guard confronted the kids the latter allegedly threw stones at him. 

This prompted the security guard to fire a warning shot using his 9mm service firearm. The bullet hit the victim on the neck, Baldo said. 

(According to the security guard, he was fed up with the victim who frequents the site to steal scrap metals and would throw stones at him when reprimanded that’s why he fired a warning shot hitting the victim on the neck) 

After the incident, Baldo said the security guard voluntarily went to the Mambaling Police Station to surrender,

The suspect will face charges of homicide in relation to RA 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.

A group of children would regularly come by and steal scrap metal from a constriction site. When confronted by the security guard they also there stones at him. To scare them off he fired a warning shot but ends dup shooting one of the boys in his neck. He died and the security guard is now facing homicide charges.

How did he fire this warning shot? In the air? Straight at the children? This is a good reason why you never, ever fire a warning shot. You shoot to kill or you do not shoot at all. And why did this news outfit think it proper to show this little boy's corpse? That is a very heartless thing to do.

What have here are just two of the latest cases where children have died in circumstances involving those in authority. It's a drop in the bucket compared to the many children who are routinely abused and trafficked in the Philippines. Indeed sexual exploitation of children has significantly increased since the lockdowns began last year. Just a few days ago three children were rescued from a sex den in Manila.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/afp-investigation-leads-to-three-children-rescued-from-online-sex-abuse-in-philippines/867f9b33-1a78-4b2d-abcf-7060af919016

Three children have been rescued from an online sex abuse ring in the Philippines following investigations by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). 

The children, aged between six and 17, were removed from harm after an investigation between the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila during March this year. 

Two Australian men have been arrested as part of the investigation.

Two women, both aged 27, were also arrested in the Philippines for their alleged role as facilitators of online child sexual abuse.

Foreigners cannot sexually exploit children without the help of locals. It is Filipinos who facilitate the abuse of children in the Philippines at every level.  From sexual abuse to murder children are treated like so much disposable garbage in the Philippines.