EDITORIAL - From child porn to child-friendly

Try searching Cordova on the Internet and chances are many of the items that pop up about the small town in Mactan will be about child pornography and cyber sex. About the only other items of interest that may also pop up are the ones about a proposed third bridge to Mactan that will link Cordova and Cebu City, and those about the town being awarded by the Capitol as one of 2015's most child-friendly municipalities.

About the third bridge, there is no question about its significance. Such a story is truly worth prominent mention on any media platform. But child-friendly municipality? Why, the story about the child-friendly municipality award by the Capitol could almost literally drown in a sea of other stories about child pornography and cyber sex that continues to grip the town.

How on earth did the Capitol, many of whose officials like to publicly proclaim themselves as being women and child advocates, arrive at its decision to give Cordova the very award that is the exact opposite of its reputation? What standards and criteria did the officials use that apparently made them completely ignore the unsavory incidents that are simply incongruous to what the award signifies.

This is not intended to besmirch the town of Cordova nor bring shame and dishonor to its people. But the news stories about child pornography and cyber sex are too stark and well-documented to be ignored. They are not figments of the imagination. They are based on actual incidents, some of which are now in fact the subject of judicial procedures.

To sweep child pornography and cyber sex under the rug just to protect reputations and shield honors is simply too much of a lopsided bargain for which the real victims will only become victimized yet again. Besides, the good town and the good people of Cordova who have nothing to do with these twin evils have no special need for protection. They can continue to keep their heads high for the honest work that they do and the decent means with which they make their living.

It is the perpetrators of the twin evils and the officials who turn the other cheek to them who have a special need for protection. But protection from what -- from neglect, complacency or even tolerance? These people do not deserve any protection from their own selves. Indeed, it would be the sweetest justice for the victims if the perpetrators and hypocritical officials get devoured whole by their own deeds.

And yet here we are, in the waning months of the straight path, still unable to come to grips with the fact that in hypocrisy there is no reality. And that is precisely why, inspite of all that is happening to children even in the supposed security of their own homes and under the protection of their own parents, the Capitol still finds it justified and deserving for Cordova to be adjudged as a child-friendly town awardee. Political loyalties are truly worth more than children's innocence.