Remulla urges CIDG to establish program addressing incestuous rape

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday urged the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) to establish a program addressing incestuous rape in the country.

“Very alarming ang kaso ng incestuous rape sa ating bansa ngunit kaunting kaunti po ang nahuhuli (The cases of incestuous rape in the country is very alarming but there were very few arrests),” Remulla said during his speech at the 70th founding anniversary of the CIDG.

The secretary said this was because the wives or partners of the culprits would “enable” their actions as they are the breadwinners of the family.

“Sapagkat sila po ang breadwinner kapag nagreklamo po ang bata na siya po ay ginagalaw, inaawat po ng nanay at hindi po nakakareklamo ang mga batang ito,” Remulla said.

(Because the perpetrators are the breadwinner, the mother usually tells the child or the victim to keep silent.)

“Kaya isa po itong pakiusap rin sa CIDG sana magkaroon po tayo ng programa tungkol po dito (So I ask this of the CIDG, I hope we can have a program to address this),” he later added.

He said this reflects the country’s supposed image of being a “capital” of cyberporn.

“Kasi ano eh, it already reflects on our society na tayo po ay nagiging capital of ano eh, of cyberporn, o kaya children’s pornography. Kasi pababa nang pababa ang ating pagtingin sa ating kabataan,” he said.

(It reflects on our society that we are becoming a capital of cyberporn or children’s pornography. It seems that we view the young people with less dignity.)

In December 2022, the Department of Justice said there was a steady increase in the online sexual exploitation of children in the country.

A consistent and sharp rise in the number of IP addresses for Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) linked to the Philippines was seen - from 2,326 IP addresses in 2014 to 4,872 in 2017.

Further, Remulla said that more than half of the individuals under the Witness Protection Program were victims of incestuous rape.

“At ito po ay isang pakiusap ko sa ating lahat na maging conscious tayo sa pangyayaring ito. Sa mga communities, alamin natin kung may nangyayaring ganito at idemanda natin nang idemanda para matigil na po itong practice na ito,” he said.

(This is one of my appeal to the public, I hope we can all be conscious of these incidents. In our communities, let us find out if something like this is happening and then file charges so we can put a stop to it.)—AOL, GMA Integrated News