Couple’s son, ex-staffer refute trafficking raps
A former staffer of an orphanage run by an American couple who got arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Tagbilaran City, Bohol province said the children were all accounted for.
Pete Magqui, a 25-year-old business process outsourcing (BPO) agent from Bacolod City, said the children sent to the Street Kids Mission Philippines (SKMP) were covered by proper documents.
Magqui said he processed the documents including the birth certificates of the orphaned children at the National Statistics Office.
“These children were not forced to stay or go in the orphanage,” Magqui told Cebu Daily News.
The American missionary couple Matthew and Dalisay Dwinells were arrested in a house they used as an orphanage for 38 children in Barangay Bool, Tagbilaran City last Saturday.
Magqui said the couple, who were being investigated on suspicion of human trafficking, were his teachers in a Bible school and started volunteer work in 2009.
He stopped after getting married and staying in Bacolod City.
Magqui said the orphanage started in three locations — in an area across Elizabeth Mall and Barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City and in Talisay City.
The orphanage moved to Dauis and Baclayon in Bohol in 2013 since it needed bigger space for the orphaned children.
“When we brought the kids to Bohol, I, myself with the kids, asked their parents to sign the letter that they were allowing their kids to come with us,” Magqui said.
Most of the children are streetkids in Cebu City that wander areas like Cathedral Plaza, Barangay Patag and Barangay Bonbon.
“The kids who live with us are like queens and kings. They are properly trained, advised and sent to school. Kids sent at the orphanage call them (Dalisay and Matthew) as mom and dad,” he said.
The orphanage has sponsors and benefactors from abroad.
“The churches, friends and most of the time they used their own money. The sponsors even visit the orphanage (often). Most of them are church members in Maryland and a non-government organization abroad,” Magqui said.
After receiving money from the sponsors, Magqui said the couple regularly submits reports to the benefactors for transparency.
The couple’s 44-year-old son Ernesto Cullari, who works as a photographer in New Jersey and runs social media marketing campaigns for companies, also reiterated his parents’ innocence from allegations.
Cebu Daily News found Cullari after he commented on an article about his parents’ arrest published in its website.
He said his parents became missionaries after they sold their business in New Jersey.
He said his mother Dalisay was a businesswoman while his stepfather Matthew was a magician and cook during his stint in the Navy.
Cullari said it was during a trip to Manila to meet his brother’s Filipina fiancee that his mother Dalisay saw and felt compassion for the destitute kids wandering the streets.
“It was then at my brother’s wedding that she knew she wanted to sell all she had to become a missionary to the poor street kids of the Philippines,” Cullari said.
Despite staying in the US, Cullari said he and his siblings love their “Filipino ancestry” and were taught about Filipino culture and ate Filipino food at home.
He said he will visit the country soon to see his parents.
Cullari said his mother has Filipino roots and is the daughter of Patrocinio Domingo, a war hero in the Philippines.
“(My grandfather) fought the Japanese when he was 15 years old,” Cullari said.
“(My parents) are honest, kindhearted and generous people. They are selfless, we have a wonderful family here — they could be spending it with us, but they choose to serve the children there and to live their lives for Christ,” he said.
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