2 more child abuse raps filed vs Willie Revillame

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has joined the legal battle regarding the alleged abuse of a six-year-old boy who was made to “macho dance" on TV5’s prime time game show “Willing Willie." [See: The crying dancing boy incident: A timeline.] DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky" Soliman – together with “running priest" Fr. Robert Reyes, environmentalist Froilan G. Grate, advertising executive Frances Irene Bretana, and blogger Noemi Lardizabal-Dado – filed on Wednesday morning their separate but joint complaint-affidavits before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, charging the show’s host, Willie Revillame for violation of the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act (Republic Act 7610). This brought the number of complaints filed against Revillame in connection with the “macho dancing" boy incident to three. If convicted, he would face imprisonment of six years and one day to eight years, as provided for in Section 10 (a) of RA 7610. “We are filing the case because it is our job. We do this for all cases of child abuse that we come across, and we provide services to everyone who needs our help," Soliman said in a statement. “There is no political angle here; neither is there any hidden agenda, as some quarters may allege," she added. The complainants said they had no idea that a different group composed of children’s rights advocates would file earlier on Monday, April 25, a similar case against Revillame and six others connected with his game show. In fact, Lardizabal-Dado had announced much earlier that her group would be filing a child abuse case against the TV5 host. TV5 had already said that it is already re-examining its policies and vowed that no similar incident would happen in the future. Child abuse? In their complaint-affidavits, it is alleged that Revillame had committed child abuse as defined under Section 3 of RA 7610, particularly “psychological…abuse" and “emotional maltreatment" [paragraph (b)(1)] as well as “[a]ny act by deeds or words which debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being" [paragraph (b)(2)]. “We were able to individually view the segment from the internet, after it was uploaded on the YouTube website. As concerned citizens, we denounce the exploitation and irresponsible treatment of the six year-old [boy] on the show Willing Willie. Revillame’s actions and utterances constituted psychological abuse, cruelty, and emotional maltreatment of the child, as it debased, degraded and demeaned Jan-Jan’s intrinsic worth and dignity as a human being," the private complainants said in their affidavit. In an earlier interview, Revillame's counsel, Leonard de Vera, urged those who are condemning the show to watch the entirety of the segment and not just the YouTube video. “The boy is well and fine. If only those who are quick to condemn Willie would only view the entire 48 minutes TV episode of the boy and not view merely the spliced and tampered YouTube tape, they will be enlightened and spare the boy the stigma of unjustly branding him as an ‘abused child’ for the rest of his life," he said. Interviewed by GMA News Online, Bretana sent a text message to clarify the stand of the private co-complainants. “We are not against the boy’s dancing. We are not against the boy’s parents and relatives who expressed joy over his performance. We are against the ridicule heaped on the boy after one man made fun of him as he called the six-year-old boy a ‘macho dancer’ on national television. That is no way to treat a child, in any civilization, in any nation," she said in her text message. Online campaign against child abuse The private complainants are online activists making an impact in the real world. Their online children’s right advocacy led to the withdrawal of several advertisers from “Willing Willie" and Revillame’s announcement that his game show would go on a two-week suspension. But as of posting time, the show has yet return on air. Grate started the Facebook community page “Para Sa Mga Bata" which circulated a March 28 open letter titled “Child Abuse on Willing Willie show in TV5." The online email campaign he had helped launch quickly got the attention of government agencies such as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), and National Commission on Children’s Television (NCCT); of media and advertisers groups such as the Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA) and the Kapisan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP); of international organizations like the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); of human rights groups like the Ateneo Human Rights Center; of schools such as the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication and the St. Scholastica's College; and of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) - National Secretariat for Social Action. Together with child psychologist Dr. Honey Carandang and blogger John Silva, Grate also faces two charges filed by the parents of the dancing boy. In a text message, Grate said: “Hindi kami natinag sa mga hinabla sa amin na kasong libelo at child abuse. Kami pa – child abuse? Kita naman natin lahat kung sino ang nagsabing ‘macho dancer’ na ala-‘Burlesk Queen’ ang bata habang sya’y sumasayaw sa halakhak ng studio audience. Masakit at mapanlait na pananalitang binato sa isang walang depensang musmos!" (We are not cowed by the libel and child abuse raps filed against us. Were we the ones who committed child abuse? We all saw who it was who called the dancing boy a ‘macho dancer’ and likened him to a ‘Burlesk Queen’ to the delight of the studio audience. Hurtful words of debasement hurled at a defenseless child.) Lardizabal-Dado, for her part, initiated a “blog carnival" in which people online are invited to write articles and express their views about the controversial March 12 incident concerning the crying dancing boy. The blog carnival began on April 18 and ends on April 28. She explained: “Just by writing a blog post or tweeting about the blog carnival, you can help raise awareness on child protection laws. The children cannot speak out for themselves. While hundreds are striving to shed light on violations of children’s rights, there is a great personal cost to themselves and their families. Children rights advocates rely on the freedom to speak out." - with Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMA News