Letter to the Philippine Government's Council for the Welfare of Children The Council for the Welfare of Children is the Philippine government agency mandated to coordinate and implement all laws and policies pertaining to children. This is an enquiry e-mail via http://www.cwc.gov.ph/ from: Anne Barrett Doyle <anne@bishop-accountability.org> January 25, 2015 Patricia B. Luna OIC-Executive Director Council for the Welfare of Children Dear Ms. Luna, I am co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a U.S.-based archival and research group that gathers and analyzes data about the sexual abuse of children within the Roman Catholic Church. As part of our long-term project to create a global database of accused Catholic clergy, we are gathering information about allegations against priests in the Philippines. While our research so far has uncovered several dozen accused Filipino priests, we are writing today to draw your attention to 12 particular cases that raise immediate concerns about child safety. Most involve priests who are still active in Philippine parishes. Several of the priests worked at some point in the United States but were banned from U.S. dioceses following serious allegations of child rape and molestation. The twelve cases are detailed in our report, Clergy Sexual Misconduct in the Philippines: Key Cases. The report has been posted today on our website, www.bishopaccountability.org, at this URL: http://www.bishopaccountability.org/Philippines/Key_Cases.htm Our report cites: * An active priest in Bohol who was convicted of sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old in the United States; * An active parish priest in Laguna who admitted in 2003 to abusing three minor boys a few years earlier; * An active priest in Sorsogon City described by an American archbishop as someone who “should not be in any ministry involving young people;” * A priest working as an administrator at a Catholic college in Manila who was accused of child sexual abuse in at least three lawsuits in the U.S. These cases urgently require investigation. We urge you to pass this information to the appropriate law enforcement and child protection agencies at both the national and local levels. There are compelling reasons that several of these clerics are not allowed to minister in the U.S. We believe children are at risk now. We recommend respectfully too that your agency begin pushing legislation that would hold church officials accountable for preventing child sexual abuse by clergy. Filipino bishops appear to have legal impunity in retaining credibly accused priests. They flatly state, for instance, that they do not report accused priests to law enforcement (see paragraph 36.6 of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ Pastoral Guidelines on Sexual Abuses and Misconduct by the Clergy). We would be happy to provide additional information or answer any questions. Please don't hesitate to contact us. Regards, Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director BishopAccountability.org anne@bishop-accountability.org

.