Child Pornography and Trafficking of Girls
The Caraga region composed of Agusan and Surigao provinces is fast becoming one of the favorite routes of “highly organized” syndicates involved in the trafficking of girls.
Ma. Gala M. Enerio, advocacy officer of the End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) reported that the demand for children in prostitution created by pedophiles in the guise of being tourists has increased the vulnerability of women and children. The sense of obligation and responsibility to help the family meet its most basic needs have also pushed these women and children to take the risk, she added.
Girls as young as 11-17 years old are brought to urban centers like Cebu and Manila and end up in entertainment centers before being shipped to other parts of the world such as Japan, Middle East and Northern Marianas Islands, Enerio added.
Other areas in Mindanao identified by ECPAT as local trafficking routes are Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte, Agusan del Norte, Pagadian City, General Santos City, Zamboanga, Dumaguete City and Sultan Kudarat.
In a roundtable discussion with the local media, Enerio revealed that buses and boats are being used by the syndicates in trafficking children. “The syndicates are highly organized and oftentimes protected by the police. They give protection money.”
Cebu City is often the destination point of trafficking from Samar, Bohol, Leyte, Negros and Bacolod City as these areas are equipped with tourism facilities, making it easier for syndicates to operate, Enerio noted.
“Tourist facilities do not promote sex tourism, but they do not have any control over those who go to tourists establishments”. “If they became more sensitive and actively take part in our campaign, they could be vigilant to report pedophiles posing as tourists,” said Enerio
Sex trafficking involves the geographical transfer of a person from within and across borders for the purpose of engaging such persons in sexual exploitation. From 1993 to March 2001, there were 935 recorded cases of human trafficking, 25 percent of these women victims were forced into prostitution. Fifty – one percent of the victims were trafficked with their consent and 49 percent were deceived, records show.
According to Enerio, the advent of information technology also made the illegal transaction easier. She cited the increase in the mail order marriages and the zero conviction rate against mail order agencies.
The fad first started as sex chats until it developed into full-blown cyber sex complete with advertisements, pictures and telephone numbers for customers to call on the Internet.
What is startling, Mendoza pointed out, is that some of the children are being peddled by their own parents.
“Some parents even escort their children to the dens…For them, their children are not violated because they are not actually touched while doing lewd acts. The child dances in front of the camera, performs sexual acts with sex toys.”
X-rated DVDs and VCDs showing young Filipino children have flooded the market and are sold between P350 and P400 a piece.
The children are paid the local equivalent of $1.99 per minute for their services, turning them into “willing victims.”
Alex Ramos cited the case of a 67-year-old Japanese man who was arrested in a resort in Laguna Province for taking pictures and videos of some 70 children aged 5 to 16. The children were reportedly offered huge sums of money starting at P10,000.
Last year, an 85-year-old American was arrested in Los Angeles after U.S. customs officials searched his luggage and found pornographic materials, sex aids, 45 kilograms of chocolate and candy, and thousands of dollars as he tried to board a plane to Manila.
He had already made appointments to meet with pre-teen Filipino girls. He told investigators he had “sexually educated” young girls in the Philippines with their parents’ consent since 1983 and did not consider it rape.
“It’s difficult to put a figure as several cases are not reported. Parents do not complain and many of the children are abandoned. So who will take the cudgels for them?” Ramos asked.
In the 1995, the U.N. Children’s Fund estimated that 220,000 children in 65 major cities in the Philippines were in the streets. In 1998, there were 222,417 street children in 65 major cities.
More and more children are forced to work due to poverty. In 2001, an estimated 4 million Filipino children aged 5 to 17, or 16.2 percent of the total for his age group, were working.
Those children trapped in commercial sexual exploitation are concentrated in tourist spots. Children there are highly vulnerable to drugs, physical violence and sexually transmitted diseases.
Prostitutions for both young and adult girls will go on unabated unless the people are liberated from the shackles of poverty. The only solution against this evil is functional education and decent and profitable jobs for the people. /MP mailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com
Ma. Gala M. Enerio, advocacy officer of the End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) reported that the demand for children in prostitution created by pedophiles in the guise of being tourists has increased the vulnerability of women and children. The sense of obligation and responsibility to help the family meet its most basic needs have also pushed these women and children to take the risk, she added.
Girls as young as 11-17 years old are brought to urban centers like Cebu and Manila and end up in entertainment centers before being shipped to other parts of the world such as Japan, Middle East and Northern Marianas Islands, Enerio added.
Other areas in Mindanao identified by ECPAT as local trafficking routes are Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte, Agusan del Norte, Pagadian City, General Santos City, Zamboanga, Dumaguete City and Sultan Kudarat.
In a roundtable discussion with the local media, Enerio revealed that buses and boats are being used by the syndicates in trafficking children. “The syndicates are highly organized and oftentimes protected by the police. They give protection money.”
Cebu City is often the destination point of trafficking from Samar, Bohol, Leyte, Negros and Bacolod City as these areas are equipped with tourism facilities, making it easier for syndicates to operate, Enerio noted.
“Tourist facilities do not promote sex tourism, but they do not have any control over those who go to tourists establishments”. “If they became more sensitive and actively take part in our campaign, they could be vigilant to report pedophiles posing as tourists,” said Enerio
Sex trafficking involves the geographical transfer of a person from within and across borders for the purpose of engaging such persons in sexual exploitation. From 1993 to March 2001, there were 935 recorded cases of human trafficking, 25 percent of these women victims were forced into prostitution. Fifty – one percent of the victims were trafficked with their consent and 49 percent were deceived, records show.
According to Enerio, the advent of information technology also made the illegal transaction easier. She cited the increase in the mail order marriages and the zero conviction rate against mail order agencies.
The fad first started as sex chats until it developed into full-blown cyber sex complete with advertisements, pictures and telephone numbers for customers to call on the Internet.
What is startling, Mendoza pointed out, is that some of the children are being peddled by their own parents.
“Some parents even escort their children to the dens…For them, their children are not violated because they are not actually touched while doing lewd acts. The child dances in front of the camera, performs sexual acts with sex toys.”
X-rated DVDs and VCDs showing young Filipino children have flooded the market and are sold between P350 and P400 a piece.
The children are paid the local equivalent of $1.99 per minute for their services, turning them into “willing victims.”
Alex Ramos cited the case of a 67-year-old Japanese man who was arrested in a resort in Laguna Province for taking pictures and videos of some 70 children aged 5 to 16. The children were reportedly offered huge sums of money starting at P10,000.
Last year, an 85-year-old American was arrested in Los Angeles after U.S. customs officials searched his luggage and found pornographic materials, sex aids, 45 kilograms of chocolate and candy, and thousands of dollars as he tried to board a plane to Manila.
He had already made appointments to meet with pre-teen Filipino girls. He told investigators he had “sexually educated” young girls in the Philippines with their parents’ consent since 1983 and did not consider it rape.
“It’s difficult to put a figure as several cases are not reported. Parents do not complain and many of the children are abandoned. So who will take the cudgels for them?” Ramos asked.
In the 1995, the U.N. Children’s Fund estimated that 220,000 children in 65 major cities in the Philippines were in the streets. In 1998, there were 222,417 street children in 65 major cities.
More and more children are forced to work due to poverty. In 2001, an estimated 4 million Filipino children aged 5 to 17, or 16.2 percent of the total for his age group, were working.
Those children trapped in commercial sexual exploitation are concentrated in tourist spots. Children there are highly vulnerable to drugs, physical violence and sexually transmitted diseases.
Prostitutions for both young and adult girls will go on unabated unless the people are liberated from the shackles of poverty. The only solution against this evil is functional education and decent and profitable jobs for the people. /MP mailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com
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