Neglectful parents to face raps, Gwen says

PARENTS who use their children for online pornography rackets will face criminal charges in court, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday.

In a press conference, Garcia said she will no longer give reminders since parents turned a “deaf ear” on previous warnings.

“What I would like to tell them now is if they will not embrace their responsibilities as parents, then they are equally liable and we will run after them. They will be jailed and we will teach them how to dance,” she said.

Garcia’s remark referred to the famed dancing inmates of the Cebu provincial jail.

The governor received three staffers of US Sen. Thad Cochran together with International Justice Mission (IJM) National Director Andrey Sawchenko who visited her office yesterday.

Sawchenko said he brought Thomas Allen Hawks, the senator’s chief of staff, to meet with the governor and discuss programs implemented by the Capitol against human trafficking.

The governor commended the recent series of arrests and raids against traffickers in Cordova and Naga City.

“We will do all that we can to enforce the law and to protect our citizens, our constituents especially our children,” Garcia said.

Australian national Angelo Farina, who faces anti-trafficking and child abuse charges for keeping four minors inside his home in Naga City, was arrested in a raid by police last Wednesday evening.

The Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB) is studying whether the parents of the children will face charges for neglect.

Family members and neighbors defended the Australian saying he had helped send to school many girls in the barangay.

“Helping is not an excuse in this case, considering the girls are still minors and sleeping in the house of a stranger,” said CLB lawyer Noemi Truya-Abarrientos. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus and Gabriel C. Bonjoc