Woman abused by 7 priests gets $500,000 settlement

[samsungster]

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Woman abused by 7 priests gets $500,000 settlement

LOS ANGELES -- A woman who was sexually abused by seven Roman Catholic priests and had a baby by one of them has received a $500,000 settlement from America’s largest archdiocese.

The $500,000 payment to Rita Milla, 46, was part of a $660-million global settlement the diocese had reached collectively with past abuse victims.

Milla first filed her case in 1984 after she said she was abused as a teenager by priests in the Los Angeles area.

“I’ll never escape the memories and I’ll always be fighting the after-effects of the trauma I went through, but now I can work on healing,” Milla said at a news conference on Tuesday.

A state court found in 2003 that a Filipino priest, Fr. Valentine Tugade, fathered Milla’s daughter, now 25. Another Filipino priest, Fr. Santiago Tamayo, had admitted he had *** with Milla and publicly apologized years before his death in 1996.

The diocese refused to comment on Milla’s case and the whereabouts of the remaining priests.

“We will continue our longstanding efforts to protect children, prevent sexual abuse and the potential for abuse,” Cardinal Roger Mahony said in a statement.

Molested at 16

Milla has maintained that she was molested by Tamayo at a church in Carson when she was 16. After she turned 18, she said she had sexual intercourse with Tamayo who later introduced her to six other priests who also abused her.

After she was impregnated in 1982 by Tugade at a church in the Los Angeles area, Milla said Tamayo first suggested that she get an abortion, but later devised a plan to send her to the Philippines to have the child.

Milla returned to California after giving birth to her daughter, Jacqueline, and pleaded with the archdiocese for help but was refused.

Landmark malpractice suit

Milla and her mother then filed a landmark clergy malpractice suit in 1984, seeking to establish paternity, set up child support and sue the priests and Church for civil conspiracy. The California Supreme Court dismissed the case, saying the Church was not responsible for the behavior of its priests and that too much time had elapsed.

Even so, the Los Angeles archdiocese set up in 1988 a $20,000 trust fund for Jacqueline. Milla’s lawyer, however, said her client’s daughter was entitled to additional compensation.

On the day Milla sued 23 years ago, all seven of the accused priests disappeared from their parish offices, according to her attorney, Gloria Allred.

Tamayo relocated to the Philippines in the mid-1980s. In 2004, Allred released documents showing the Church urged Tamayo to stay in that country after Jacqueline’s birth and mailed him checks.

In three letters dating from June 1984 to August 1988, Church officials advised Tamayo not to reveal the source of the payments “unless requested under oath,” noting that he was “liable for personal suits arising out of your past actions.”

No word with Tugade

Milla, now a medical assistant who lives in southern Los Angeles County, said that she had not spoken with Tugade since shortly after her return from the Philippines.

Tugade, who was last known to be living in Fremont in Northern California, never expressed interest in caring for the child, she said.

“He was disappointed actually that she wasn’t a boy,” Milla said.

She once planned to become a nun, but Milla no longer believes in God. She said she lost her faith because of the Church’s callousness.

“I thought that the Church would make everything okay, that they would punish them,” she said.

“After the Church showed me that they didn’t care about what happened, I realized what they were really about, that they were more like a business,” Milla added.

“They have no fear of God.”

http://services.inquirer.net/express...05175-xml.html

[bluefairy]

Pinoy pa jud, kauwaw oi...

[erwin_rommel]

gi ganahan sad siguro ni cya sa mga pari kay ni abot man og 7. pag na pul an na cya sa mga pari, palag dayon para daghan kwarta

[rand_althor]

gi ganahan sad siguro ni cya sa mga pari kay ni abot man og 7. pag na pul an na cya sa mga pari, palag dayon para daghan kwarta

mao jud bro.. no offense to the girl. pero sharo, pagka-ihap niya na ika-tulong pare na nisuway niya, wa pa japon siya natagam!?

[lestat1116]

binuang mana na babae.

[munzter666]

mao jud bro.. no offense to the girl. pero sharo, pagka-ihap niya na ika-tulong pare na nisuway niya, wa pa japon siya natagam!?

its easy to say such things from the sidelines.but its traumatizing for the rape victims pod baya she's in the confides of a *** predator...lalo na nasa lunga sya ng PREDATOR...sad to say Simbahan pa naging lunga. tsk tsk

[rand_althor]

its easy to say such things from the sidelines.but its traumatizing for the rape victims pod baya she's in the confides of a *** predator...lalo na nasa lunga sya ng PREDATOR...sad to say Simbahan pa naging lunga. tsk tsk

yeah.. its easy to say.. not considering the trauma experienced by the victim..
but even so, if they don't seek help, it only means they don't want to help themselves either.
these cases, the victim becomes addicted to the abuse. and its a tragedy.. such innocence crushed by the ploys of bad people.
sometimes, its difficult to stop one's self from concluding that it was their destiny to be in such situations. they allowed themselves to be in it. in accidents like these, its tough to disassociate one's self from the act. sometimes, they think they are really like that because of one accident that happened. such are the ploys of the succeeding people who took advantage of her fragility.

bottomline: mga walay ayo jud ni mga pari-a.. who knows, they may have preyed on their altar boys too.

[munzter666]

^hehehe judas priest!! ....o ala-Michael Jackson

hinuon, if they dont seek help doesnt really mean they dont want to help themselves(trauma victims ba), naa dyud gud nay threats...kinsa pa ba diay authority figure sa simbahan. we cant expect these victims to be emotionally & psychologically fit maka trauma gud.. less empowered/oppressed/exploited pod sila.. anyway, dli man pod kaayo detailed ang balita gud.hehehe

*even protitutes get raped...doesnt mean bend the rules coz she's a prostitute and thats her profession.(got that from a court show something)

[rand_althor]

^hehehe judas priest!! ....o ala-Michael Jackson

hinuon, if they dont seek help doesnt really mean they dont want to help themselves(trauma victims ba), naa dyud gud nay threats...kinsa pa ba diay authority figure sa simbahan. we cant expect these victims to be emotionally & psychologically fit maka trauma gud.. less empowered/oppressed/exploited pod sila.. anyway, dli man pod kaayo detailed ang balita gud.hehehe

*even protitutes get raped...doesnt mean bend the rules coz she's a prostitute and thats her profession.(got that from a court show something)

yeah, that's why they have women empowerment programs nowadays.. to speak up despite the threats or blackmails..

[jcos]

maoba