Father Shay Cullen
Father Shay Cullen, nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, is a missionary priest from Ireland and a member of the Missionary Society of St. Columban and has worked protecting women and children and human rights in the Philippines since 1969.
Born in Dublin, 27 March 1943, educated at Presentation College, Glasthule, Co. Dublin. He completed his college education at St. Columban’s, Dalgan Park, Navan, Ireland and was ordained in April 1969. Sooner later he was assigned to parishes in Zambales and Olongapo City, Subic Bay that year. His mission for justice and peace is ecumenical open to people of all faiths. It is based on taking a stand for human rights and protecting the dignity of every person, in particular exploited women and children.
Father Shay Cullen established Preda Foundation in Olongapo city, the Philippines in 1974 to promote human rights, justice and peace. Believing that poverty, violence and child abuse are barriers to peace and give rise to tyrants and torturers. He strives to eliminate child abuse and promote respect for children’s rights. He works for peace by striving to change the unjust economic political and social structures and attitudes that allow such abuse.
The 12 Preda projects are to educate for peace, free children from brothels and jails and give them a chance to recover in therapeutic homes and be reintegrated and have a happier life free from violence and abuse.
When he uncovered a child prostitution ring selling children to personnel at the US Naval base, Subic Bay he initiated a successful campaign to remove the bases and convert the infrastructure into a commercial manufacturing zone. As many as a hundred thousand Filipinos now work at the converted U.S. bases in Clark and Subic.
He has received several human rights awards and has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize and other human rights awards. He has testified before the US Congress, The Philippine Senate and is a well known speaker and facilitator at numerous other international conferences.
Fr. Shay Cullen is the author of Passion and Power an autobiography, he writes a weekly column in The Manila Times that are published in other newspapers and online. He also writes poetry, songs and is a media commentator on the issues of trafficking of women and children and human rights violations.
He speaks fluent Filipino. He began Preda Fair Trade, in 1975, a successful poverty alleviation manufacturing and export project that lift s the poor to a life of dignity. The processing and export of Preda dried mango help thousands of farmers. He oversees twelve major projects at the Foundation including environmental protection and tree planting. With a present professional staff of 72 the projects are expanding.
(The above bio is taken from www.preda.org)
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February 7th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Alan Dale Edmonds wrote:
The story at http://www.pinoypress.net/father-shay-cullen, as written by Shay
Cullen, is, as normal, fraught with lies.
Point: In the third paragraph, he states he started Preda Foundation in 1974
to promote human rights, justice and peace.
If he did that, why was he charged by his superiors Father Bob Garon and Father
George Louiselle for theft of said property in July 1974? The property was
registered not as any human rights, justice, nor peace organization, but a drug
and alcohol rehabilitation facility named “Zambales Rehabilation Cener”
(spelled as found on the original Articles of Incorporation signed by Shay
Cullen).
Preda Foundation did not come into existence as such until 1979, when the
Articles of Incorporation were rewritten to read “Prevent and Rehabilitate
Drug Abusers (PREDA) Foundation, Incorporated”, which clearly show that there
was no intention at all in either 1974 nor in 1979 to have anything to do with
“human rights.”
Certainly, Shay Cullen is quite vocal in his condemnation of government
officials, and he consistently connects everything, it seems, to sexual abuse,
especially of children.
Now, I have no qualms about that, but I am highly concerned about the fact that
a drug treatment facility mixing children with alcoholics and drug abusers. And
now, with his campaign to get children out of jail and into his care, where is
the concern that children who have been sexually abused might become abusers
themselves? He freely admits in other publications that there are no guards,
bars or physical barriers to those children he has had removed from jail.
This, obviously, is no concern of his.
I’m going to skip around this story a bit, before I sum up. Please be
patient.
He says he began Preda Fair Trade in 1975, right? Why is it that his book
“Passion and Power” does not even mention the Fair Trade program until many
years later, like when he was walking all over South America when his beloved
Foundation needed his help (see pages 156-159 of his book)?
Now, to clarify something there, and to be sure that there is no
misunderstanding of Shay Cullen’s words, he did NOT mention on page 156 that
he was involved in the Fair Trade concept: That comes many chapters later.
What he mentions on page 156 of his book “Passion and Power” are sales of
handicraft products, a project he was doing many years prior to his involvement
with fair trade.
Shay Cullen is the author of Passion and Power. Has any Filipino read it?
According to a sworn statement of his that I filed, he said that the book is
not for sale in the Philippines. Why not? Filipinos are named in the book!
Let’s see if I can quote an example or two: Gaspar Alcontara, a killer, hit
man, pimp, but no conviction nor court case that I can locate; Shay Cullen’s
statement about the current President as found on page 464: “In the next few
years in the Philippines we were to see the rise of similar Nazi-like practices
of torture, executions and beheadings as President Arroyo consolidated her
power. Many journalists, broadcasters, human right workers and farmers
organizers were assassinated almost daily, allegedly by military intelligent
hit squads. The international sex tourists and child exploiters continued
their activities with impunity threatening and harassing us in our work
protecting abused children. I had a number of death threats in my time and one
was more bizarre than another.”
“The 12 Preda projects are to educate for peace” is what he says in the
fourth paragraph. Ok, how is ATOMIC RESEARCH, as indicated on the Articles of
Incorporation of Preda Foundation, Inc. in 1979 and as late as 2003 supposed to
do that?
Here is something that should be considered: He uncovers a child prostitution
ring selling children to personnel at the US Naval base, Subic Bay, but rather
than filing cases against the prostitution ring or the recipients, he campaigns
successfully to have all foreign bases in the Philippines removed, which throws
thousands of Filipinos out in the streets with no jobs, no incomes and worse,
the child prostitution rings and the criminals who did such things to children
went about their business with no further thought of prosecution. And he’s
proud of that, as he reports this all the time in the various publications that
he has written, including this one.
Hey, why not? No one has ever questioned him before, but I do. He’s going
to yell “LIBEL” when he reads this (if the Moderator allows it to be
published), but think of this: Is telling the truth and pointing to historical
facts libelous or educational to those victims of his words – those words that
make him seem like such a great person until reality checks in?
February 18th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
A very shallow response from Alan Dale Edmonds. He would do well to explore issues such corrpution, sexual exploitation, greed, social justice, morality and ethics etc. One child sexually exploited, one farmer forced off their land, one major on the take from a corrupt government, are all one too many. Without the likes of Father Shay standing up to such injustices there would be no accountability at all. Edmonds prefers to attempt to discredit a person who is working to make the world a more just and peaceful place, instead of being outraged at how people with money and power abuse and use others who do not have the resources to defend themselves.
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