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‘Macho’ dancing boy victim of child abuse, CHR says


The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Tuesday labeled as “child abuse" the case of Jan-Jan Estrada, the six-year-old boy who was made to “macho" dance on national television in exchange for a P10,000 cash prize. In a statement, CHR chairperson Loretta Rosales said Willie Revillame, host of the show Willing Willie; Jan-Jan’s parents; and even the audience could have violated Section 10 of Republic Act 7610 or the “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act." “The multiple pressures exerted on Jan-Jan by the TV program’s host, audience, and his parents to perform a humiliating act in exchange for ten thousand pesos constitute child abuse," Rosales said. The CHR chief said the incident, shown on national TV and was circulating widely on video-sharing sites like YouTube, was an “exploitation of the child’s innocence and demeans his inherent dignity for entertainment's sake." Rosales said the CHR will investigate the incident to identify the specific individuals who should be held liable for the incident. The investigation would also seek to come up with recommendations for public and private agencies, like TV Network TV5, to prevent similar incident from happening again, Rosales said. Counseling As this developed, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said professional social workers had visited Jan-Jan’s parents to counsel them about children’s rights. “We gave them counseling and explained to them the rights of a child and everything about child abuse. It was an enlightenment on their part," Soliman told GMA News Online. She described the counseling session on Tuesday as “a good and open discussion" between the social workers and Jan-Jan’s family. She said the first day of counseling went well and made the couple realize their responsibilities as parents. Tuesday’s session was only the first day of a series of counseling meetings with the Estrada couple, Soliman said. Soliman said lawyers from both the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the private sector are also currently studying the incident to determine the possible “legal actions" that could be taken against the parents. She said the legal team is expected to come up with a report in “two to three days." Meanwhile, a post by Froilan Grate, administrator of the Facaebook page “Para Kay Jan-Jan," said Jan-Jan’s parents admitted that they made a mistake and have sought counseling. According to Grate on Facebook: “As per DSWD, they went to Jan-Jan’s parents this morning for counseling and the parents admitted they made a mistake." But Soliman, in her interview with GMA News Online, said calling the parents’ reaction to the counseling as admission of their mistakes would be “too strong a word." Grate also posted this message on Facebook: “One of the points agreed — ‘voluntariness’ and parental consent is not an excuse for child abuse." GMA News Online on Tuesday tried to reach Jan-Jan’s parents for confirmation of Facebook post but they could not be reached as of posting time. Nothing wrong But in an earlier interview with GMA News Online, Jan-Jan’s father, Jojo Estrada, said he saw nothing wrong with the incident. Estrada said his son had no idea what he was doing was lewd or was commonly done by "macho dancers." His son used to perform such gyrations as early as when he was only four years old. "Sa akin hindi bastos. Basta sayaw 'yan. Hindi alam ng bata kung bastos. Hindi bastos 'yun sa magulang. Kaya gusto ko makaahon sa hirap. Maging artista di ba?" he said. Estrada said their relatives also approved of Jan-Jan's dance, and the boy himself had insisted on going back to the show. The boy's parents The CHR said Jan-Jan’s parents are among those who should be particularly be blamed for the incident. “The willingness of Jan-Jan’s parents to expose him, both in private and public, to a humiliating and degrading situation is child abuse," Rosales said. Rosales pointed out that the abuse on Jan-Jan did not only appear on television, but has likewise spread over the Internet and has been repeatedly viewed by the public, including children. Rosales also called on the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take the necessary actions regarding the issue. Jan-Jan should also be provided by the concerned agencies with "the necessary relief," Rosales said. Viral video clip The viral video clip from the program shown on TV5 on March 11 shows the boy Jan-Jan breaking into a sensual "macho dance routine" to the music of "Next Episode" by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. The video, viewed more than 430,000 times already as of posting time, showed Jan-Jan crying while doing the entire routine, while Revillame and the audience laughed, cheered, and howled. Not for children Soliman has already written TV5 chairman Manny Pangilinan asking him to censure Revillame and not allow children to appear on the show. "Persuading a little child to dance sexy adult dances in exchange for a measly sum, while he is being laughed at and ridiculed will definitely traumatize the child ... There are limits to children appearing on television, and clearly, your 12 March 2011 episode did not respect the rights of the child and traumatized the six year-old boy," said Soliman in her letter. Soliman requested Pangilinan to disallow young children from appearing on Willing Willie or similar shows and that Revillame be "rebuked for his insensitive and deplorable actions." Online campaign An online campaign on Facebook has already been launched to protest the incident, and has also generated angry comments from Twitter and other social networking sites. Willing Willie were trending worldwide on Twitter. TV5, Revillame, and the show's producers have issued a public apology for the incident, insisting that they never intended to humiliate or abuse the boy and any contestant on their program. ‘Not funny’ The group Gabriela National Alliance of Women has condemned the incident. As for Revillame’s apology, the group said: “Despite the lengthy explanation, Revillame and the show’s producers completely missed the point. It was even more callous of Revillame to say that there are more important national issues that should be tackled instead of castigating his show over an episode. It was like saying that children’s rights have less importance than other issues." The group demanded from the management of TV5 and concerned government agencies “to impose immediate and appropriate sanctions on Revillame and his show for violating the rights of a child," as well as “a straightforward public apology from Revillame for having committed such violation." Gabriela also urged “TV5 and other television networks to revisit their internal mechanisms and institute measures to ensure respect, promotion and protection of the rights of marginalized sectors such as women and children in their shows."– VVP/MRT/KBK, GMA News

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