A HOUSE lawmaker who advocates for the protection of women said on Friday that the indictment of US diplomat Dean Cheves by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia highlights the need for stronger support for victims of sexual abuse.
“Young girls from the poorest and most neglected parts of the country are falling prey as many foreign sex offenders are invading the Philippines to exploit the dire state of families under this economic crisis,” said Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene D. Brosas
The US Department of Justice said on Tuesday that Mr. Cheves, who had served at the US Embassy in Manila from September 2020 to February 2021, was indicted for engaging in sexual activity with a Filipina minor.
“Court documents further detail that Cheves allegedly engaged in sexual activity with the minor on two occasions, knowing the minor’s age, and produced cell phone videos of himself engaging in the sex acts each time. The videos were found on Cheves’s devices seized from his embassy residence while in the Philippines,” they said.
If found guilty, Mr. Cheves could face up to 30 years in prison for “engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place” and up to 10 years for possessing child pornography.
Ms. Brosas said that while she welcomes the decision by the US justice department, she added that the Philippine government should provide support to the victim should cases be filed in local courts.
She also urged the House to immediately pass the Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children Law which was passed by the Senate on third and final reading on May 31. A counterpart measure filed by Tarlac Rep. Victor A. Yap is currently pending in the House Committee on Revision of Laws.
Ms. Brosas also urged the passing of amendments to the Anti-Rape Law that seeks to raise the legal age of sexual consent from 12 years old to 16 years old. This was already passed at the House through House Bill 7836, while Senate Bill 2332 is still pending for second reading.
“Women and other victims of rape who would want to seek justice through the judicial system must be given ample remedies under the law,” she said. — Russell Louis C. Ku