First question I know people are going to ask is who is Thomas Rhuland if you don’t know already.He was a German national in Cebu from 2008 who would frequent Queensland hotels with minors before abusing them. He would then sell the videos and photographs on the internet for up to $300 per set. Around the same time of the Ellah Joy murder in Minglanilla Thomas Rhuland had been released by local PNP officers after recently being caught in a Queensland hotel with 2 teenage girls.
The fact is they let him go several days before Ellah Joy was murdered, I enquired when they re-arrested him but nobody will give you information and I think this is where things don’t seem right. He has been deported to the U.S. by ICE very quietly in connection with the seizure and on going investigation of “Dreamboard” which is a paedophile’s haunt where people would exchange images and videos of child abuse. Thomas Rhuland under the name “Mabuhay” was one of the members of the site. He has literally disappeared under police protection in the United States while awaiting trial yet what about the crimes committed here?
He abused young girls in Cebu for years recruiting them from Lapu-lapu and Talisay yet nobody is trying to locate the children (yes children as young as 5) as this sort of crime normally involves parents being paid money in exchange for the kids. Fact is nobody is even looking and I doubt they ever will. The Philippines government got all upset over the U.S. Ambassador saying that 40% of foreign male tourists are here for sex how much more if he had said something about the child abuse clients that come here on a regular basis? Odd thing is when the figure 40% came up I never heard any foreigners complaining or even talking about it. Only the Philippines government which does make you wonder if the so called guilty party are willing to accept 40% as a reasonable figure and to be honest after 4 years here I wouldn’t be surprised. Why is it the government isn’t willing to accept it? Smear on the face of the country yet there are bikini bars near the U.S. Embassy, Mango Square in Cebu, Angeles City in fact all over the Philippines (anyone want to check the ownership of the buildings as you may be surprised at some of the real owners) serving up human meat for sexual pleasure. I think its a case of preferring to ignore the problem as admitting it also means dealing with it. In the same way Thomas Rhuland may be a case of they let the killer go without realising it as they handed him over to the Americans and now they don’t want to go over the fact they let him leave the country. Ok he’s looking at a Jail sentence in the U.S. although currently the speed ICE are working he’s probably going to have served his sentence by the time they’ve finished preparing the case and have it heard. He has walked away from the Philippines free. Not arrested for any of the crimes committed here he is a serial abuser and rapist but will only see jail in the U.S. for production and ownership of indecent material not the rapes and abuse.
Its not the first case either when reading about these people arrested after “returning from the Philippines” why isn’t any action being taken while they are here? For me if this is foreign governments not stopping the abuse they are as guilty as the person committing the crime. They already have enough evidence for an arrest when they return home yet could stop the crime in place by informing local authorities. More needs to be done as it does seem either the Philippines government doesn’t care or the fact that foreign governments don’t trust the Philippines police so deal with it themselves once they can take action.
Lets not forget now that a lot of the rise in arrests last year were to do with the Philippines about to be slapped down a notch which would have knocked their aid budget from the U.S. to humanitarian only, like everything else it revolves around money.
