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Philippines: the taboo of incest
Every year, thousands of children in the Philippines archipelago are victims of sexual violence within their own family. It is a social and cultural phenomenon hidden beneath a blanket of silence and shame.
BY ANTOINE BESSON
WARNING: This article contains detailed descriptions of incest in the Philippines, a sensitive and difficult subject. We suggest adult guidance for young readers.
“I AM HERE BECAUSE I AM A SURVIVOR”
Slender and looking down, Tala [the names of those who shared their experience have been changed, ed] is reluctant to recount the horrors she has suffered and the violence inflicted on her, which are now the subject of legal proceedings.
Taken in at Bethany Home in the city of Butuan, a refuge for under-age girls who are victims of sexual violence run by the Missionary Soeurs of Mary, the 10-year-old girl from the town of Gingoog has difficulty remembering. She was 5 or 6 years old and lived with her grandmother and her mother’s brother. It is hard for her to remember when her uncle, 20 years her senior, knocked on her door for the first time, drunk and on drugs. The child, who until now has spoken English, naturally switches to Cebuano, the regional language of this part of the archipelago, to tell her story.
A story of abuse and violence that is painfully common in the Philippines. “He dragged me into his room and started playing with my body. I screamed, but no one heard me that day.” Tala had no one to complain to: her father is in prison for domestic violence, her mother works as a cleaner in Saudi Arabia. Her family environment is made up of her tormentor, an uncle who is addicted to shabu – a methamphetamine-based drug that is widespread in the Philippines and nicknamed the “poor man’s cocaine” – and her grandmother, who is totally overwhelmed and a habitual gambler. There is also her younger sister, Jessica, a year younger, who is also a victim of her uncle’s perverse assaults.
Considered an unwanted burden by those around them, the two little girls sometimes stayed with their grandmother, and sometimes were entrusted to other more distant relatives. “Some days we did not eat and were forced to beg in the street”, Tala recalls shyly. It was her mother’s best friend, Jade, who put an end to their hell by taking them into her home and alerting their mother abroad. She was unable to return to the Philippines but filed a complaint and obtained the placement of her two daughters in the Bethany Home by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Philippine social services.
Beside Tala, Diwa, 15, wears round glasses that cover part of her face. She wears a big, confident smile on the outside. She looks like any other teenager. However, aged 11, Diwa was raped multiple times by her stepfather between 2019 and 2022. She cries as she details the abuse she suffered. “I feel nervous when I think about my story, I do not know why”, Diwa innocently apologises, as if she has to carry the shame of a crime that has become painfully commonplace in her country.
7 MILLION VICTIMS
The stories of Tala and Diwa are not uncommon in the Philippines. Out of a population of 115 million, “nearly 7,000,000 children are victims of sexual violence every year in the Philippines”, according to Caméléon, a non-profit, which is developing a global approach to tackle the causes and effects of sexual violence against children in France and the Philippines.
This is a worrying figure in an extremely young country: 52% of Filipinos are under the age of 24. Of these victims, 20% are under the age of 6 and 33% have suffered violence at the hands of a family member, i.e. 2,300,000 victims of incest. This is 14 times more than in France, where the independent commission on incest and sexual violence against children (CIIVISE) recorded 160,000 cases of child victims of sexual violence each year in its report published on 20 November 2023.
Despite the scale of the problem, “there are no figures that reflect the reality on the ground in the Philippines”, warns Laurence Ligier, founder and director of Caméléon. For this Frenchwoman, who has been involved in the fight against sexual violence against children for 27 years, the subject is an extremely big taboo in Philippine society, and the reality is probably even worse than the statistics suggest. “Family unity and harmony are two essential drivers of Filipino identity. To denounce incest is to trample on these principles, something that many of the children and parents involved cannot bring themselves to do.”
So it is best to use the experience of those working on the ground to understand the phenomenon. Vida Sumayo, social worker coordinator for Children of the Mekong in the Philippines, points out that “most young people who have been sexually abused as children are victims of an incestuous relationship”. The social worker paints a catastrophic picture of the situation, in stark contrast to the figures quoted above. She bases her assessment on statements made by young people who have confided in her in a private interview. Most of these cases will never be officially recorded, due to the victims’ unwillingness to testify. “Incest cases account for between 60% and 80% of abused children in our centres, i.e. the vast majority”, highlights Vida, who confirms Laurence Ligier’s analysis: “It is often shame and the fear of being a source of conflict within the family that keep young people silent”. Most of the incidents concern girls, but there are also a few boys. “The shame among boys is even greater and prevents them from speaking out,” said Vida.
EDUCATING BOYS
“To understand the prevalence of incest in the Philippines and the overwhelming silence that reigns around it, you have to understand Philippine society and culture,” explains Frère Marie-Étienne, a French priest on mission in the working-class districts of Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines.
“We’re talking here about a society that is predominantly matricentric, with a gap between the moral education of girls and boys accentuated by the pressure of poverty”. Boys can quite naturally be left to their own devices and often suffer from an absent or traumatic father figure. “The man is seen as a worker, focused on the outside world. His strength and virility are celebrated. He is the one who brings in the money, regardless of whether or not he continues his studies. As such, the moral education of boys is not a priority! I have often met Filipino men who lack self-esteem.” However, in the vast majority of cases of sexual violence, the rapist is a man and the victim a woman. Yet women are at the heart of the traditional family.
Filipino culture sets great store by the natural authority of women. “We must not forget that this is one of the only countries in Asia to have had two female presidents”, points out the missionary. In this context, girls are educated and encouraged to continue their studies more than in many Asian countries. “The paradox is that at the heart of this matriarchal culture, a culture of rape and incest has developed.”
But not everything is cultural. There are also economic, sociological and demographic reasons for the prevalence of incest in the Philippines: extreme poverty and the unequal distribution of the country’s wealth (21.6% of the population of the Philippines lives on less than €1.75 a day, with a GDP of nearly 400 billion US dollars), the illiteracy of the parents, overcrowding in the living quarters of families (in fishermen’s shacks or in shanty towns, families often sleep in a single room) and the isolation of certain residential areas, the high rate of teenage mothers (200,000 births per year) as well as broken families and workers who leave their children behind (172,000 migrant workers of Filipino origin leave their country every year; 10% of the population work abroad). Lastly, we must not forget the consequences of the trauma of incest itself: “a large proportion of the perpetrators of sexual violence are themselves former victims. The challenge of rehabilitating victims is also to put an end to the reproductive cycle that goes down from generation to generation”, highlighted a director of a refuge for abused children.
ONLINE PAEDOCRIMINALITY ON THE RISE
Given these figures, it is surprising that those responsible for such abuse are not afraid of facing criminal charges.
In fact, since 1992, the country has had the Republic Act (R.A) 7610 on “the special protection of children against abuse, exploitation and discrimination”, the first law in the country to condemn the abuse of minors. Five years later, two new laws defined rape as a crime, but set the minimum age of sexual consent at 12 (the lowest in Asia). This legislative context, combined with poverty and malnutrition, has led some families to sell their children within the sex tourism industry, including online sex tourism. In the words of its own justice minister, the Philippines is “the world leader in online rape” and one of the leading producers of paedophile content on the internet. Since 2012, a new phenomenon has been worrying the authorities. “Live-streaming”, which consists of selling videos of sexual violence committed against children on webcams according to a pre-established scenario, is becoming increasingly common. Boosted by the global Covid-19 pandemic, statistics relating to this practice are said to have tripled in three years. As an English-speaking country with good internet connections and access to inexpensive smartphones, the Philippines is said to be reporting eight times as many cases as other countries producing such online content, according to a 2020 report from the International Justice Mission (IJM), a leading international organisation in the fight against this violence. In 41% of cases, these rapes are incestuous, in other words, they are committed by the biological parents.
However, Shay Cullen, a 79-year-old Irish Catholic priest who set up the Preda Foundation in Olongapo on the island of Luzon, acknowledges that “the country is gradually adopting laws that are more and more appropriate”. The long-standing activist, who campaigns against the sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines, highlights the latest development in this area: “In 2022, the minimum age of sexual consent was raised from 12 to 16. That is a major victory”, he points out, before warning that “the problem is not so much the laws today as the will to actually enforce them”. That is where the difficulty lies. “Many people in the police force, in the courts and even among social workers play down the facts, especially when the victims are not from a privileged class”, laments Jicel Bazar, 33, social services coordinator at the Anak-Tnk association in Manila, which takes in street children, a population particularly exposed to sexual abuse. The same complaint can be heard in Cebu, where Frère Paul from San Carlos University, who coordinates a social action programme, regrets that he does not see government social workers on the ground more often.
In 2022, the minimum age of sexual consent was raised from 12 to 16. This is a major victory.
"THE SYSTEM ABANDONS US"
“When a child or young person reports incest in the Philippines, they have no guarantee of being heard. The system abandons us”, complains Vida Sumayo, who regularly observes the dysfunctions of the justice system and the forces of law and order.
“Under the law, a rape trial cannot take place if the victim is not present to testify. We have the example of a young girl who received her summons by post after the trial date. These dysfunctions are common and encourage victims to give up, even though acknowledgement of the harm done to them is an important part of the healing process!” Caring for victims is a concern shared by the Preda Foundation, which attaches great importance to giving them the freedom to speak out. To achieve this, Shay Cullen has set up an impressive practice in his victim support centre: Emotional Release Therapy, inspired by the work of American psychologist Arthur Janov.
In a small, semi-dark room with mattresses on the floor and walls, the teenagers are encouraged to release the emotions they are feeling without worrying about the outside world. With music playing in the background and under the supervision of a psychologist, the screams, moans and tears rise to the surface. On that day, six young girls who had been victims of sexual violence expressed their anger, disgust, fear and confusion. Some hit the walls. Others remained prostrate. “The fact that they can express what they have been holding in all this time is a relief for them. They often say that they finally feel free after these sessions“. It is also a way of giving them the freedom to speak out with a view to future legal proceedings: “During one of these sessions, we discovered that a child who had been rescued had been raped afterwards by one of the police officers. This just goes to show how much Philippine society as a whole, needs to be educated and made aware of this issue“, explains the Irish priest who, with his foundation, has set up an ambitious programme of lobbying politicians, raising awareness among the forces of law and order, and prevention in schools among children, in particular through a puppet show written and performed by former beneficiaries of his foundation.
“EDUCATION IS THE KEY”
Vida Sumayo shares this belief in education: “Education is the key to better combating incest”. Education that tackles all subjects, including emotions and sexuality, which are often taboo in families.
“During our workshops, some young people discover that what they have experienced is not normal. That certain gestures are not cuddles without consequences. It is also sometimes an opportunity for them to discover that silence does not help them, but imprisons them and convinces them that they will always be victims.” Of course, the process takes time, and rebuilding depends entirely on the young person’s will and the support they receive. “In cases of incest, the difficulty is that the crime takes place at the heart of the family unit, committed by those who are supposed to protect and support you. A victim of incest is extremely alone”. In such a context, a child sponsor, a programme manager, an overseas volunteer or a social worker can be a new kind of support that changes the game. “I remember one sponsored child who had been abused by her cousin for eight years. She had the strength to threaten him and force him to stop his abuse when she was sponsored and found support outside her family”. The spread of testimonies on social media in recent years has also helped to give victims the freedom to speak out and contributed to wider recognition of the phenomenon.
Soeur Bing is the director of the Bethany Home refuge. She is an integral part of the Philippine social system, as the public prosecutor entrusts her with the care of her residents. She bears witness to their rehabilitation and resilience.
Back to Butuan, to the Bethany Home. Tala draws a great blue sky. Next to her, Sister Bing, the refuge’s director, holds the youngest resident in her arms, a baby aged one year and eight months who has been abused by her biological father. The centre’s director looks kindly on her protégés. The atmosphere is light and laughter is rife. “The reality of the figures should not overshadow the hope that remains at the heart of these terrible stories: since 1996, we have been collecting testimonies of resilience,” enthuses the nun. Even though the healing and rehabilitation process takes a long time, “we have to tell these teenagers that their lives are not over,” continues Soeur Bing. “Through contact with them, I have learnt to be stronger and to love more, to be responsible for others. As someone who sees the world with my head, they teach me to be more of a person of the heart. It is an immense gift that they give us“. Whether here on the island of Mindanao, in Cebu at the Children of the Mekong centre or at the Preda Foundation on the island of Luzon, many university-age victims of incest choose social professions. It is not a coincidental choice considering their history and is a virtuous circle that could be a sign of hope and renewal for the country as a whole. This is the case with Diwa, who, automatically placing her glasses back on her nose and putting down her colourful drawing, confides: “I want to become a social worker to help children like me“. In this oasis of joy and childhood that the Bethany Home represents, Tala’s words come to mind and take on a deeper meaning, sounding like a promise and a challenge: “I am a survivor!”
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