Life for a trafficked child in the sex industry

By Fr. Shay Cullen

PREDA

When the Pharisees challenged Jesus of Nazareth to answer if a woman caught committing adultery should be stoned to death in accordance with the law of Moses, he responded: “The one of you that has no sin can throw the first stone” (Jn 8:7). The Pharisees, knowing full well they are sinners themselves, felt ashamed and went away. Alone with the woman, Jesus asked her: “Is there anyone to condemn you?” She replied: “No one, sir.” Jesus then said: “Then, I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

In the Philippines, adultery is both a sin and a crime, with the woman regarded as the main offender. A married man in an extramarital relationship not only betrays his wife and children, but can also be charged by the spouse for concubinage under the Revised Penal Code. But these crimes are so common that they have been generally ignored. Similarly, prostitution has become “socially acceptable” enough and commonplace that local governments issue operating permits and licenses for sex bars and brothels. Trafficking people into the sex industry is a serious crime, but this has been generally overlooked, even tolerated. That is, until international agencies like the United Nations’ anti-trafficking committee exert pressure and bring attention to the non-enforcement of Philippine anti-trafficking laws. In response, the police will conduct raids and arrest a few traffickers. However, the conviction rate is very low.

Today, young women trapped by debt bondage as sex workers are protected from prosecution by Republic Act 9208, or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. It gives them legal protection as victims of human trafficking and exploitation. RA 9710, or the Magna Carta of Women Act of 2009, considers prostitution an act of violence against women. It also established the rights of women and provides protection and anti-discrimination provisions promoting the well-being of women, especially since most of them are poor. With this law, the wise Filipinos behind it finally embody Jesus’ words when he said to the adulteress: “Neither do I condemn you.”

The UN Children’s Fund says more than 2 million Filipino children have reported being sexually abused and exploited. The number of children trafficked into prostitution is over 100,000, but the exact figure is unknown. Human traffickers and sex bar and brothel operators provide false names and fake IDs to these minors to show they are older than 18.

Female recruiters and traffickers offer teenagers from poor families “well-paid jobs.” They pay the parents a cash advance on the salaries of the children and take them to cities, where they are trafficked and sold to sex bars and brothels. They are then intimidated and made docile by threats of being jailed or their parents being jailed if they run away without paying off the money given in advance to the parents. This is debt bondage, a modern form of sex slavery.

Girls who are sexually abused in their own home by their father, stepfather or their mother’s live-in partner, brother, grandfather, or relative frequently run away to escape and often end up on the streets. They are prone to be victimized by pedophiles or vulnerable enough to be befriended by a “friendly” human trafficker who feeds and grooms them, and later persuades them to go with him or her to work as a waitress in a bar. There, they are sexually abused by the owner or operator and then given to customers. They soon become victims of debt bondage. They lose their greatest gift: freedom of choice. These young girls are too ashamed to tell their parents of what happened to them.

In the sex bar or brothel, the girls become members of another kind of “family.” The manager is the “mama san.” The owner is known as “Big Daddy.” He expects to be always obeyed without question, to be sexually gratified. The other sex workers are called sisters. The girls get loans with high interest rates that they can never pay off. The debt bondage almost lasts a lifetime.

This sex bar or brothel culture is a corruption of the traditional Filipino family structure that creates dependency and loyalty to the “family.” Trafficked children have been convinced, even brainwashed, by their abusers that sex work is the only work for them. When these children are just aged 13 to 16, sexually abused in their own family and/or trafficked, they lose all clear decision-making capabilities. They already dropped out of school, and many are illiterate. They have been abused and traumatized, and blamed for their situation. However, they cannot be held responsible for the crimes committed against them.

These girls are in constant danger of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including AIDS. They have no medical benefits. Under local ordinances and national law, bar owners are required to bring their sex workers for regular checkups at government-run clinics to test for STDs. Bar or brothel owners will face penalties if they fail to do this. This medical requirement and the issuance of operating permits for sex bars make it clear that the government allows and is involved in prostitution and, by extension, human trafficking.

When they are rescued and referred by government social workers to the Preda Foundation, the trafficked children tell us how some police sexually abused them when they were in police custody. Others recount that they were sexually abused by undercover nongovernment organization (NGO) “rescuers.” The NGOs involved in this criminal activity deny this allegation.

Children referred to the Preda therapeutic center feel protected from their abusers and are content to stay there. The Preda home is an open home, not a jail, and while they are legally placed in the care of the foundation, they are not confined; they can leave any time.

Most are convinced to stay and turn around their lives through Preda’s emotional release therapy and the values taught to them about their dignity and human rights. They go to school while at Preda. After testifying against their abusers and human traffickers, they are reintegrated with their supportive relatives and enter into the aftercare program that gives financial assistance for them to continue schooling. Many have gone on to college. Healed and empowered, and their abusers or traffickers serving life sentences, these girls are now free to live a new, happier life.