Firsts

I could not forget my first time.

I'm talking about the very first time I entered my appearance in court -- summer of 2005, in a Regional Trial Court in Calapan. I just finished my freshman year in UP Law (and was on the verge of quitting it), then a Child’s Rights student and volunteer. The Judge, after having known that my co-volunteer and I come from UP, encouraged us to appear for the Prosecution, even if the Rules of Court disqualifies us from doing so.[1]

A week before this first court appearance, I was told by my superiors that I would be assisting in a special case.

The case: a celebrated controversy of child pornography in one of the more popular tourist destinations in the country.
The accused: three foreign nationals, who have been residents of the locality for at least three years.
The private complainants: at least three female minors whose families have been working as househelpers for the accused.

Before leaving Manila and meeting the "clients", I was told by my superiors that these "clients" are not like the ones we usually have in PGH-CPU.[2] Not that the stories of abuse in PGH-CPU are, in any way, usual. What my superiors meant was, if I thought I have already been shocked enough by the stories I've heard, then I better hold my conclusions until I meet our "clients" for this special case.

And so a few days before the scheduled hearing, I met “Ria”[3], one of the minor private complainants in this special case. She initially appeared like any other 12-year-old girl. But the minute she opened her mouth, she stopped being like any other girl her age.

Hindi ko makalimutan ‘yung first time ko.

So she told me. She was then talking about the very first time that she was asked by a German national, who she calls “Papa”, to stand in front of a computer. Naked (read: not even lightly clad). She was too young then; and with the use of her two hands, she showed me how old she was at that time. And while I tried to hide my shock to myself, she narrated to me everything –- from the day it all started, until the day it finally reached the court.

Her knowledge, as reflected in her speech, is not that of a girl in her pre-teens. She knew and spoke about the things male foreigners would desire in young Filipinas and how their “sessions” (which she describes as “high tech”) would begin in front of a personal computer and a small camera attached to it. She also told me which keys needed to be pressed and which links needed to be clicked on to bring her to her “audiences”, what parts of the world her "audiences" would come and watch her from, how much and in what currencies they would pay her through her “Papa”, how their payments would reach her “Papa”, and even what sexual positions she would have to do to “please” them. She detailed that time she lost her virginity to her “Papa” to give in to the request of one of her “audiences” until everything became routinely to her and her friends. She even remembered how her days would end with her “Papa” commending her for a job well done.

When asked what she feels about her “Papa” and his friends being sent to jail, she nonchalantly said that she does not know why they’re behind bars when all they did was to help her keep her family alive. Virginity is not something everyone cares about, she said. Money, on the other hand, is something that her family needs.

And then, it was my turn to be asked, “Sabi ni Attorney, pornography raw ang kasalanan nila Papa. Makukulong ba sila nang matagal dahil do'n?”

I just answered a simple “yes”, though I knew it was not exactly correct to say that. Yes, they are guilty of pornography. They would more likely stay long in jail, but technically not because of it.


Then, and to date, there’s no law penalizing child pornography in the country. According to a solon, only one bill is pending before Congress, and such pertains only to pornography in general.[4] Such remains to be the fact despite the finding of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that the child pornography industry in the Philippines is much more widespread and systematic than originally thought.[5]


While no one contests the advantages of digital technology, UNICEF sees it as the main attraction to pornographers, as it encourages the “safer” form of prostitution. “Internet technology makes it difficult for officials to monitor and investigate the criminal practice. It is increasingly clear that un-chaperoned Internet use by children leaves them vulnerable to child pornographers through e-mail, chat rooms, web sites, web cameras and Internet cafes. Digital cameras and mobile phones equipped with cameras are also reported as being used to produce and disseminate child pornography.” [6]

To paraphrase Meredith Grey, no benefit comes without a price. And modern technology is no exception. While it brings forth advancement to modern society, it has been costing us something, due to the absence of the efficient means of regulating it.

Let me correct that. Not only has it been costing us something. It's been costing us a great deal. At stake is our society’s moral, which to me, was, and never will be, a good trade-off.


I have had no word with my "clients" in that special case since that summer. I was just told by one of the supervising lawyers that one of the minor private complainants, one of Ria’s friends, escaped the safehouse months after we left. The supervising lawyers could only surmise why she decided to escape and where she exactly went.

And then, Ria’s words came to me. Virtues are not really something everyone cares about. Money, on the other hand, is what their families need.




(for the week 20 - 26 Jul 2008)
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[1] SECTION 1. Conditions for Student Practice. - A law student who has successfully completed 3rd year of the regular four-year prescribed law curriculum and is enrolled in a recognized law school's clinical legal education program approved by the Supreme Court, may appear without compensation in any civil, criminal or administrative case before any trial court, tribunal, board or officer, to represent indigent clients accepted by the legal clinic of the law school.
[2] The Philippine General Hospital-Child Protection Unit
[3] Not her real name. (concealed for reasons of confidentiality, even if the attorney-client privilege did not apply then)
[4] http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=125262
[5] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3693/is_200409/ai_n9432541
[6] http://www.unicef.org/philippines/archives/news/050505.html