October 04, 1996

To my dear Clergy, Religious, the entire People of God

of the Archdiocese of Manila, and to men and women

of good will:

With great sorrow I have to point out the increasing prominence — both in Metro Manila and in the Philippines as a whole — of the crime of child abuse in various forms — sexual abuse of children, child beating, and child employment. In the case of sexual abuse one cannot help being horrified by the element of incest in many of these cases, as well as the probability that the perpetrators of such an atrocious crime include socially prominent persons such as congressman and a town mayor — persons supposed to protect us, and provide us with good example.

Evidently this increase in child abuse is due to the acting out of a breakdown of moral values both in family life and in government. This overt moral decay is in turn caused by mutually reinforcing, factors — a stagnant economy which grows but does not provide quality jobs in the homeland, massive outward migration of Filipinos to seek better employment abroad, increasing numbers of single parent or parentless homes, increasing drug trafficking and abuse, massive waste of scarce government funds for personal enrichment and self-aggrandizement of politicians and bureaucrats, and inefficient crime prevention, crime detection and law enforcement.

Faced with this horrible situation, let us not be paralyzed by despondency. Let us turn to God for help and strength. With Christian hope let us combat these evils.

Let us pray for our government officials that they may not be deaf to the cries of our suffering countrymen. Let us earnestly try to make them understand that spending scarce government funds for selfish or personal motives — for ghost or overpriced and substandard projects, for acquiring property for their own personal use, for gathering signatures to secure extension of terms of re-election — is sinful, in fact gravely sinful. Let us pray that they may realize that the money entrusted by the people to them should be spent on providing quality employment opportunities, sufficient economic infrastructure, adequate social services, better crime prevention, detection and law enforcement, and other measures which decisively promote the common good.

I hear the persistent clamor of the people, who fear whitewash of the charges of sexual abuse of minors against a congressman, a town mayor, and other prominent officials. I earnestly call upon the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation and other organs of our justice system: do not succumb to fear of or favor from the wealthy and powerful! Pursue justice and equity diligently and courageously, especially on behalf of the humble and weak of our society who need your help to protect themselves from the arrogance and cunning of wealthy and socially powerful malefactors. God has entrusted these poor brothers and sisters of ours to your care. Do not fail them, do not fail God!

I highly commend the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the other government agencies, who from the call of duty and even beyond it, are striving to protect the rights and obtain justice for the victims of child abuse, especially in relation to recent cases involving socially prominent suspects. God bless you abundantly! I am proud of you! Would that our country may have more of you.

I call upon the whole Church in the Archdiocese — clergy, religious, the entire Catholic Christian faithful — and on all persons of good will: Let us do our share in the struggle against child abuse and its causes. Let us expose those in government who wantonly violate the people’s trust by abusing or exploiting children. Let us applaud and concretely support those government officials who conscientiously do their duty to the people.

I call upon you: Be vigilant and watchful, so we can detect the cases of child abuse happening around us. Be conscientious and courageous in reporting these cases to the proper authorities, especially to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Dear people of God in the Archdiocese of Manila: Let us make our struggle against child abuse and for the welfare of children more systematic and effective. Let us intensify our efforts in family ministry, in ministry to the youth, in values formation, in advocacy for good government, and care for Filipino migrant workers and their families. In this way we shall worthily contribute our due measure of effort to make our country one in which children will be safe and happy. In this way we shall be returning love to God who loves us and who became a human being, and at one time, a child, for our happiness and salvation!

(Sgd.) + JAIME L. CARDINAL SIN, D.D.

Archbishop of Manila

Feast of St. Francis of Asissi

October 04, 1996