Quezon City, Philippines, 09 May 2009 - The arrest of an Australian diplomat involving sexual molestation of a 12 year old boy, earned the ire and condemnation of child rights advocates. Ms. Sophia Garduce, spokesperson of SALINLAHI Alliance for Children’s Concerns said that “the dastardly crime of Marcus Hodges against not one but several children is condemnable. What aggravates the incident is that Hodges is allegedly an employee of the World Health Organization (WHO).”

“Hodges’ crime against these sexually exploited Filipino boys puts to shame the prestige of the WHO which espouses high respect for children’s rights, protection and welfare. SALINLAHI noted that the incident reflects the real situation of Filipino children living way below poverty level. “Poverty pushes children to let go of their inherent values and self worth as human beings, pushing them to situations of vulnerability to sexual predators in exchange for short term financial gains,” lamented Garduce.

The group also raised their concern on the future of the case. “We are wary that the stature of the suspect who mostly likely will be given access to a power house of legal defense similar to the one provided to accused rapist Lance Corporal Smith, we fear that the case is bound to be whitewashed.” Garduce said.

“ Let us remind ourselves of Rosario Baluyot’s case, who, in the early 1990’s,  died after being sexually abused by another Australian. To this day, Baluyot’s honor remains tarnished as the lower court then found the Australian pedophile, Mr. Ritter, suspect guilty, but the Supreme Court eventually reversed this decision and acquitted Mr. Ritter,” added Garduce.

“Salinlahi calls on the police and prosecutors to go deeper into the involvement of Mr. Hodges cravings of sexually molesting minors,” said Garduce. “This is a test case for all relevant agencies of government to prove themselves child-friendly, and even for just one case, allow our children the sweet taste of justice,” Garduce ended. ###