Legal aid group mulls raps against parents of victims

EVEN if the childrens’   parents consented,  an Australian still violated the law on child abuse when he kept four underaged girls at his home in barangay Inayagan, Naga City.

With this, 11 photographs seized by police at the house showing 78-year-old Angelo Farina relaxing at home with   teenage girls was crucial in the return of a search warrant.

Some photos showed the girls, aged 14 and 15, in house dresses or dusters with Farina.

In one photo, Farina appears shirtless and wearing only shorts with the girls with him.

The Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB) is weighing whether to file charges against the girls’ parents for tolerating the setup.

They cited Section 10 (b) of Republic Act No. 7610 or the anti Child Abuse law.

“Any person who shall keep or have in his company a minor, 12 years or under  or who is 10  years or more his junior in any public or private place” like a hotel or resort shall suffer a jail term of six to 12 years with  P50,000 fine.

For a separate charge of “human trafficking of minors”, the penalty can be life imprisonment with a fine of P2 million to P5 million.

CLB lawyer Jo-an Suarez- Pabriaga said they would decide tomorrow if they would also press charges against the parents, who live in Naga City.

“We are seriously considering it. We will deliberate  and see if we have strong evidence against them,” Pabriaga told Cebu Daily News.

Farina, who is  Italian  by birth and holding an Australian passport,  said the girls’ parents  consented to letting the minors  stay at his house.

Municipal social workers in Naga are also checking Parina’s claim.

Pabriaga said Farina will still be charged for keeping minors in his home without relatives or family.

She said the CLB still has to take the sworn statements of the children, who are under the custody of the Department of Social welfare and Development (DSWD-7).

Jaybee Binghay, DSWD spokesperson,  said the agency is providing their food and clothing.

She said the four girls rescued in last Wednesday’s raid of Farina’s house are still undergoing one-on-one counselling  to check for trauma.

“They are all cooperative and follow the instructions of the social workers,” she said.

Binghay said no relatives or family member have come to visit the girls yet since the raid.

If proven that the teenagers’ home environment will pose harm to their recovery, they will stay in a  holding facility until  social workers can look for a responsible relative.

For their part, the Naga City police said they have enough evidence to pursue their case against Farina.

“With the presence of the four minors living in his house without any valid reason, that is enough evidence of the crime plus we have recovered some vials of injectable contraceptives  in the house even if he has no partner living there,”said Senior Supt. Timmar Jomio Alam, Naga City police chief.

Also found were three tablets of Inoflox (Ofloxacin), an antibiotic.

At the local Bureau of Immigration office, BI chief Casimiro Madarang III said their office won’t intervene in Farina’s case until he is convicted and served his sentence.

“If he is convicted, then that’s the time we can intervene and decide if he should be deported or not,” he said.

He said Farina came to the country in 1993 and  married  a Filipina in 2009.  (Neighbors of Farina said he married someone from barangay Inayagan but has since separated and is living in Australia with their son.)

Farina filed a petition for permanent residency BI in Septtember 2009.

His probationary status began in Feb. 2010 and ended in Dec. 15, 2010.

Farina has been in and out of the couuntry. He just arrived from Australia last July 15.

Foreign nationals with permanent residency should report to immigration once a year and pay P300 as their annual report fee.

Filipino wives or husbands petition for their foreign partners to obtain permanent residency in the country. Reporters Candeze R. Mongaya and Jucell Marie P. Cuyos with Correspondent Edison delos Angeles