SENATE Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros has filed a resolution seeking an inquiry into alleged child abuse and mismanagement at a shelter in Mexico, Pampanga, where 156 children were reportedly maltreated.

In Senate Resolution No. 77, Hontiveros urged the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality to investigate incidents involving Pastor Jeremy Keith Ferguson, who has been accused of subjecting children under his care to physical, emotional, and psychological abuse.

A complaint filed by two 12-year-old boys and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) alleged that Ferguson forced children to kneel for long periods, fed them spoiled food, and deprived them of playtime.

The DSWD also cited violations of registration and accreditation standards, fire safety hazards, and mismanagement of funds. These findings prompted the agency to issue a 30-day cease-and-desist order against the facility run by New Life Baptist Church, Inc.

Hontiveros stressed the need to strengthen child protection in welfare institutions, noting that safeguards under Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act, may not be enough.

“There is an urgent need to revisit existing laws and policies to ensure stronger safeguards for children placed in social welfare and development agencies,” she said, adding that the reported abuses highlight gaps in government oversight.

“The incident underscores the necessity of a comprehensive review of accreditation, monitoring, and regulation mechanisms for institutions that assume custody of minors, to prevent similar abuses from recurring,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) confirmed on Sunday that it is preparing deportation proceedings against Ferguson, 48, who was arrested on August 13 by the Central Luzon police and the Pampanga Police Provincial Office’s Women and Children’s Protection Desk.

“This kind of depravity has no place in our country,” BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said in a statement.

“We will make sure this individual is expelled from the Philippines after facing his cases here so he may never prey on our children again. Foreign nationals who think they can come here and harm our people will face the full force of the law and the wrath of our justice system,” he added.