HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL

There’s a purposeful meaning as to why Laurence Ligier chose to name her NGO, based in Iloilo, the CAMELEON Association. Like it’s namesake in the animal kingdom, the NGO seeks to change colors and to transform lives, to rail against fear and the culture of silence, and to give victims the opportunity to rise above the plight they never asked for. Aspiring for a world where sexual violence towards children and incest would not exist, CAMELEON’s program are founded on the three pillars of healing, building, and preventing.

As Laurence explains, “Like the chameleon who changes color according to its emotional environment, we help children transform physically and morally, moving from exclusion to a better life.” For Laurence, by sponsoring the least privileged children, we empower them to become independent, and facilitators of change in the fight against child sexual abuse.

At a charity dinner hosted by the French Embassy and SM Supermalls, it was no coincidence that French actress Emmanuelle Béart was a special guest, and touchingly interacted with the troupe of performers Laurence had brought from the shelter. The day before, the 2023 French Film Festival had formally launched at the SM Mall of Asia Cinemas, and Béart had co-directed a documentary which spoke about incest in France - and how even there, a culture of silence and denial also prevailed, how the subject was still considered taboo. For Béart, the steadfast commitment coming from her own personal circumstances, was to break the silence, to refuse to be ignored, and find ways to stamp out incest. 

If you get the chance to watch the film En Silence Si  Bruyant (A Resounding Silence), you will be shocked and surprised by how incest appears in so many guises, is often denied and even protected, and the kinds of long term psychological damage it creates. Coping mechanisms by the victims are just as numerous, and having been victimized haunts them the rest of their lives. 

In the documentary, a middle-aged man talks about how, as a young boy, he was molested by both parents. Then there’s a woman who relates how it was her step-grandfather who began the cycle of sexual abuse from when she was five years of age. When she was 12 and finally revealed it to her grandmother, she was accused of lying, told to shut up, and the whole family turned against her. It’s only now, and through theater, that she gives expression to the pent-up rage she felt. It really is a sordid picture to have to consider and entertain as happening in this world - but what’s equally shocking, is the realization that it happens so often, even here in the Philippines. 

In 2019, the United Nations Population Fund declared our country as the highest among ASEAN states for teenage pregnancies. While the figures have gone down since then; it is still alarming to note how that equated to over 500 Filipino teens getting pregnant, and giving birth each day. 

To exacerbate the implications of the 2019 data, understand that 2,411 girls aged between 10 and 14 gave birth that year, almost seven a day from that very young age range. You then infer what you want about who may have been responsible for the pregnancies at that age range; and what molestation may exist at an even younger age when the girls are pre-puberty, and the sexual violence doesn’t result in pregnancies, and can remain undetected.

Laurence Ligier made the pointed observation that after 26 years in existence, the great bulk of the financial support the foundation gets, still comes from French donors. She’s saving Filipino children, but we seem to be turning a blind eye to the issue; preferring to remain ignorant. And I was struck by that fact - incest may be so taboo, so ugly and reprehensible that we close our eyes, and will it out of our radar, will it out of existence? And that is so tragic. 

We all know that denial doesn’t work, and we end up perpetuating the sordid culture that allows it to exist. Without meaning to, our silence protects those who do the abusing, those that commit the crime, as they escape social notice and censure. Plus what about those victimized? When they’re treated with apathy or indifference, we make a mockery of the pain of their speaking out. 

CAMELEON Association Inc., is a non-stock, non-profit corporation that registered with the SEC in 1997, and is licensed and accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. It’s a PNCC-accredited Donee Institution, so that donations are deductible for tax purposes and exempt from the donor’s tax. Their have a website and social media presence. 

During the charity dinner, guests were visibly impressed and touched by the performers/survivors. Impressed because they had actually been trained by members of the Cirque D’Soleil, and touched and moved as they used theater, poetry, and mime to recount what had happened to them, and how they were trying to rise above it. 

CAMELEON needs our help and support, they need our outrage and disgust, they need our voices.