CWC executive director and DSWD Usec. Angelo Tapales —Usec Angelo Tapales Facebook page MANILA, Philippines — The Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) has appealed to parents and pageant organizers not to hold beauty contests for minors, saying such exposure puts them at risk of being sexually objectified or targeted by sexual predators. Angelo Tapales, executive director of the CWC, an agency under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), said the council had received reports of certain child pageants that “may have gone beyond the bounds of propriety.
” READ: ‘ Little Miss Thong’ pageant in Colombia sparks controversy “[These] may subject children to online sexual abuse or exploitation of children (Osaec) and other [forms] of abuses,” he said in a text message. Tapales, however, said the council was still looking into specific beauty contests where the young contestants were exposed to such situations. The CWC said on Friday it was disturbed by the possible exposure of child beauty contestants to physical and emotional danger.
“These contests put them at risk of [exposure to] people who have ill intentions of putting their images up in child sexual abuse and exploitation materials,” the agency said in a statement. While such events may be seen as “innocent,” the participants, who are dressed and made up like adult women, may also be subjected to public judgment based on looks and, worse, to sexual objectification, the CWC said. Th.
