TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Sal Morano - Iris (poem)

Thursday, November 12, 2026

Sal Morano - Iris (poem) - #MeToo Philippines Series 3

Sal Morano

WELCOME TO THE #METOO PHILIPPINES SERIES hosted by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and her publishing house PALH. The writer Nikko Miguel Garcia explains the background of how this #MeToo Philippines Series came about. Please click here.

The #METOO PHILIPPINES SERIES has the purpose of educating and raising consciousness about sexual harassment and abuse and injustice in the Philippines. All articles and photos are copyrighted by the individual authors. All rights reserved. Cecilia Brainard and PALH have permission from the authors to use their materials. Legal advice provided by Attorneys Lynley Ocampo and Chris Brainard.

Series # 3 is a poem by Sal Morano titled "Iris."

Sal's poem invites us to consider the situation in the Philippines regarding child sexual abuse. Here are some facts and sources.

* Safeguarding Childhood 2022 - The 2015 National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children found that nearly one in five children (17 percent) ages 13 to 17 was a victim of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the Philippines. In recent years, online CSA has grown significantly with the spread of the internet and mobile phones. UNICEF, ECPAT International, and Interpol reported that 20 percent of internet-using children ages 12 to 17 were subjected to online CSA and exploitation, or two million Filipino children between 2020 and 2021.

* Before 2024, the age threshold for statutory wrape was below 12 years old. Republic Act No. 11648 raised the age threshold for statutory rape from below 12 years old to under 16 years old.

* Per the Philippine Health Research Registrey, Child sexual assault has been undereported, more so, those who have been assaulted by minor perpetrators (study based frin 2013-2018)

* 1 in 8 girls and women raped or sexually assaulted before age 18, UNICEF says (2024)

* Filipino Children and Adolescents' Stories of Sexual Abuse - National Library of Medicine 2021

* Sexual Abuse: the darker side of teenage pregnancies, Inquirer.net 2020

***

BIO: Sal Morano is a retired public librarian. He grew up in Wilmington, California, before moving to the Philippines at eleven. He finished high school at Christ the King Seminary in Quezon City, then graduated from the Institute of Mass Communication at the University of the Philippines (Diliman), before returning to the U.S. and receiving a master’s in library science from San Jose State.
While in college, he wrote a column for Mr. & Ms. Magazine and published short stories in the Weekly Graphic, Focus Magazine and the Philippine Collegian. In the U.S., he has written prose and poetry for The Sun Magazine, Harrow House Journal, BlinkerLit, Down in the Dirt Magazine and small literary journals in Southern California..
Aside from writing, he plays music for assisted living residents and memory care patients. He lives in Corona, California, with his wife and son.

***

IRIS

by SAL MORANO

Iris did not deserve to be raped –

            even though she wore a sexy miniskirt,
            thick make-up and dark red lipstick.
            and paraded herself up and down
            a crowded city sidewalk.

Iris did not deserve to be ignored –
            even if her family called her a liar,
            even if guys branded her a slut,
            even if girls jammed her sweater
            down the toilet.

Iris needed to be heard –
            no matter how many boys she flirted with,
            no matter what town she walked through,
            or what she boasted she would do,
            no matter what tall tales she might have told.

And Iris did not deserve to die.
She was only 12 years old.

~end~

Read also:

Irene Sarmiento -Great Philippine Literary Boys' Club - #MeToo Philippines Series 2

Mariquit E. Soriano - Who Does She Think She Is? - #MeToo Philippines Series 1
Ramil Digal Gulle - Are Filipino Writing Workshops Safe Places?
Fil-am Author Cecilia Brainard Creates #MeToo Philippines Accounts
On the #METOO Movement in the Philippines

Take Five: "It's Time for the Philippines to say, 'MeToo'!"

#MeToo: Why the Philippines Kept Silent by Eleanor Pinugu

Investigating Rape Culture in the Philippines (abstract only)
Tags: #babaeako
#MeTooMovement
#hijaako
#respetonaman
#donttellmehowtodress

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.