Monsters in the house

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The report about a man who was convicted by the court and meted 92 years of imprisonment that appeared in this newspaper yesterday shocked many readers who responded by uttering curses against his behavior.

But they also expressed their full approval of the decision of the judge who had tried the case and pronounced his guilt.

Why? Because the man had been convicted of one of the most despicable crimes that a human being could commit – he raped his own daughter when she was only 12 years old, and continued his beastly act until she was 16. All those who read the item said they fully agreed with the verdict.

But that was not the only story about the occurrence of incest in Philippine families which are becoming more frequent lately. Another report also announced the sentencing of another man for the rape of his 4-year-old niece.

How did we come to have so many deprayed characters in our country, that has even been considered by others as one of the most-God- fearing in the world? And what kind of demons have possessed these men to be so deprayed as to sexually attack their own kin, children with the same flesh and blood as theirs?

The perpetrators, of course, deserve neither sympathy nor mercy for the fate that they will have to suffer after their deeds had been confirmed and appropriate penalties meted them. What trauma they have left in the lives of these very young girls is something we cannot imagine.

The saddest thing, however, is that these two cases that happened in our province, are not isolated ones. National media also frequently publish reports of similar bestial acts of relatives who do not seem to care that their victims are their own kin.

In the two cases mentioned, the victims received some consolation in the fact that their abusers have been penalized. But how many others in other places have gone unpunished, with the criminals going scot-free, and the victims left bearing the scars of their experience throughout their lives?

Now that the elections are coming, and new lawmakers will soon join Congress, can we expect them to draft laws that could provide better protection for children against monsters lurking in their own homes?*