A documentary due to be screened on the Irish television...

A documentary due to be screened on the Irish television channel RTE on April 30, shows how campaigning Irish missionary Father Shay Cullen, working with undercover cops, was 'sold' girls as young as twelve on the streets of Olangapo in the Philippines.
In undercover footage shown in "Taking A Stand " he was helping police in a covert operation which caught an evil pimp selling child prostitutes on a street in the area where he runs a special centre to help children.
"Here, children have been turned into commodities to be bought and sold. They are like cattle in the market," said Fr Cullen, who has devoted 30 years of his life to helping the impoverished children of the Philippines.The famous priest, who has also been nominated for the Nobel Prize, works with police during his sting operations and says most of the pimps he catches end up in court.
"We want to see all the abusers go to jail but that isn't always the case.Unfortunately the laws here don't help. An abuser is given the death sentence for raping a child under the age of 12. This just makes the abuser kill the child.
"Also when this is the case children do not want to testify against parents that abuse them. The death penalty is no use whatsoever."
About 40 per cent of the 77 million people who live in the Philippines do so in poverty, making women and children easy prey for rich tourists. Up to 100,000 children are believed to be working as prostitutes.