Boys Town wards cry sexual, physical abuse

(Second of a series) Fear and abuse

"I thought Boys Town was beautiful, but it seems this is a place where we could die," the employee recounts one of the boys as saying. One by one, she says, they showed her fresh welts and bruises. The boys said they were beaten with a piece of wood, which almost hit one of them in the head. Another boy was hit in the back, making it hard for him to lie down.

The employee, through the Boys Home head, quickly informed Cabangangan of what had happened. But he took no action, she says. The employee then wrote to Baranda, sending him pictures of the badly beaten up youngsters and some of their soiled clothes along with her report. Yet even Baranda "never even called me to his office," she says.

It was Cabangangan who later summoned her. "Upon seeing me, he said, ‘(You’re) stupid, you’re ignorant, your head is flat!’" says the employee. "Don’t you know the people you wrote to are my kumpadres? You’re defending criminals!"

She says the Town personnel accused of the beatings was Cabangangan’s godson. He was neither investigated nor reprimanded and remains in the institution’s employ. The long-time Town employee has been transferred to the Manila Youth Reception Center.

Several Boys Town insiders say abuses became more frequent after Cabangangan began bringing in young men as volunteers–positions entitling them to an allowance of at least P2,000 a month.

Most of the abuses have been physical assaults, although there has been one complaint of sexual molestation against a volunteer by a teenage ward. The volunteer who allegedly beat up new recruits in October 2004 has also been accused of touching and kissing a 14-year-old female former ward.

Preying on wards

According to Cabangangan, he brought five men in all because the Town had a manpower shortage. Various Town sources confirm the shortage, but talks with them also indicate that Cabangangan brought 15 volunteers who came in at different times. Insiders say these young men take turns sleeping at the official’s quarters, and have been derisively baptized "lollipop boys" behind their backs.

Cabangangan’s quarters have also become infamous for being the site of his alleged sexual molestation of some teenage male wards. Like Paul, 15-year-old Gary says he was molested there by the Town OIC, who even asked him "if I was already circumcised, had a big penis, and if I was still a virgin."

Summoned to perform reflexology on Cabangangan, the boy says the official’s hand first stroked his leg before moving on to his private parts. In his written complaint, he says he was also asked to sleep in the house, where late that night he suddenly woke up to find a naked Cabangangan beside him.

Boyet, now 18, tells a similar tale, although he has not filed a complaint. Believed by insiders to be one of the first wards to be molested, Boyet–who has been released from Boys Town–says he had already been sleeping in Cabangangan’s quarters for weeks before he woke up one night to find the Town OIC stroking and kissing him.

"Then it happened," he says, refusing to elaborate. At the time, he says, not one of the volunteers staying at Cabangangan’s quarters was around. Boyet says the incident happened two more times.

Cabangangan and his volunteers, wards and some Boys Town personnel attest, have also been seen drinking within the Town’s premises, sometimes at Cabangangan’s quarters, other times in a vacant spot beside the administrative office, or near a fighting-cock farm operating inside. Ruben, who is 14 but looks older, says he even used to buy liquor for the men, since he was considered among their "favorites."

Drinking is prohibited inside Boys Town, a policy that Cabangangan himself acknowledged. But he says drinking is allowed "on special occasions." Ruben and other wards, though, say drinking takes place even when there is no such occasion.

In any case, there was drinking during the Boys Town Fiesta last March 3, when four wards were severely beaten by the volunteers, while Cabangangan, the boys say, just stood by and watched. The men, as well as Cabangangan, were drunk, they say.

Beatings in the Town

The boys, among them Carlo, 14, and Ronaldo, say they had planned to knock some coconuts off the trees by pelting these with rocks. But the guards accosted them and accused them of sniffing rugby. Marched off to Cabangangan and his men, the boys were next accused of throwing stones at a guard.

In their written statements, which they gave to their Fugoso Memorial teachers, the boys say they were kicked and punched all over by four of Cabangangan’s men. In an interview, Carlo recounted, "I was punched in the head and in the back. I was kicked. They accused us of using rugby. But we didn’t."

Ronaldo says he was shaking and crying while they were being mauled. The men then took them back to their cottage, all the while still hitting them. When the men left, the boys sneaked out and went to the police.

The Parang police blotter records the boys’ complaint against Cabangangan and his men as one involving violations of R. A. 7610, which protects children against abuse, exploitation and discrimination. Medico-legal certificates issued by Marikina’s Amang Rodriguez Medical Center on March 4 show that the boys’ bodies had hematomas or blood clots.

Fear of reprisal

Insiders say the boys may have dropped their complaint largely because they feared they would be released from Boys Town without due process. Most of the boys want to stay since they not only get free food and lodging, but also free education. Ronaldo, for one, is reluctant to leave, despite all that has happened. He says he still wants to become an electrician, a dream he thinks he may never attain if he goes back to his impoverished family living in Baseco.

Fugoso Memorial officials have endorsed at least two batches of wards’ complaints to City Hall, one of which was addressed to Manila Mayor Jose ‘Lito’ Atienza in January. Atienza was asked about the actions taken by his office, but he has not replied to this reporter’s query. Instead, the query was forwarded to the social welfare department, which has also not replied.

When the complaining wards were summoned to City Hall early this year, Fugoso Principal Emerlina Adrales insisted that teachers accompany the youngsters, observing that they were scared of even using the Boys Town vehicle. She told the Town OIC, "The children aren’t leaving without their teachers."

Unfortunately, the teachers’ presence failed to shield one boy from more harm. Paul says after they were done meeting with the investigating committee, the mayor’s special assistant, Ryan Ponce, spoke to him and another Town ward angrily, accusing them of sniffing solvent.

In a written statement dated Jan. 22, two days after the incident, Paul says that he was dragged into Baranda’s office where he was kicked and punched by Ponce–right before the social services head.

"Dr. Baranda could do nothing but to hand me a piece of tissue," Paul says in his statement. He also says Baranda told him, "Ikaw kasi, rugby ka ng rugby (It’s your fault for using rugby)."

The battered lad says he broke down and cried. But in an interview, Baranda only repeatedly denied any abuses and refused to entertain more specific questions.