c



c
  is illegal.
- It is a serious crime with penalties ranging up to life
imprisonment for those involved in trafficking.
-It is covered by the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
-
Prostitution is sometimes illegally available
through brothels (also known as casa), bars, karaoke bars (also
known as KTVs), massage parlors, street walkers and escort
services.
-There are an estimated 800,000 women working as prostitutes in
the Philippines, with up to half of them believed to be underage.
-Prostitution caters to local customers and foreigners . Media
attention tends to focus on those areas catering to sex tourism,
primarily through bars staffed by bargirls.
- Other tourist areas such as Cebu have also developed a high
profile prostitution industry.
ÔWomen and children involved in prostitution are vulnerable
to rape, murder, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.[8]
-Surveys of women working as masseuses indicated that 34
percent of them explained their choice of work as necessary to
support poor parents, 8 percent to support siblings and 28 percent
to support husbands or boyfriends.[9] More than 20 percent said
the job was well paid, but only 2 percent said it was easy work
and only 2 percent claimed to enjoy the work.[9]
-Over a third reported that they had been subject to violence or
harassment, most commonly from the police, but also from city
officials and gangsters.[9]
-A survey conducted by the International Labor Organization
revealed that in the experience of most of the women surveyed,
prostitution is one of the most alienating forms of labor. Over 50
percent of the women surveyed in Philippine massage parlors
said they carried out their work ³with a heavy heart,´ and 20
percent said they were ³conscience-stricken because they still
considered sex with customers a sin. Interviews with Philippine
bar girls revealed that more than half of them felt ³nothing´ when
they had sex with a client, the remainder said the transactions
saddened them.

There are other forms of prostitution including child prostitution.


 
 
 



 
  (CSEC)
Prostitution of children under the age of 18 years, child
pornography and the (often related) sale and trafficking of
children are often considered to be crimes of violence against
children. They are considered to be forms of
economic exploitation akin to forced labour or slavery. Such
children often suffer irreparable damage to their physical and
mental health. They face early pregnancy and risk sexually
transmitted diseases, particularly AIDS. They are often
inadequately protected by the law and may be treated as
criminals.
- Client preferences for young children, particularly in the
context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, pull in additional children.
Additionally, the expansion of the Internet has facilitated the
growth of child pornography.
-Experience has shown that certain socio-economic
characteristics, such as population density, concentration of
night entertainment (bars and discos), high poverty and
unemployment levels, movement of people, and access to
highways, ports, or borders are also associated with CSEC.
- While it is impossible to know the true extent of the problem,
given its illegal nature, International Labour Organization (ILO)
global child labour figures for the year 2003 estimate that there
 are as many as 1.8 million children exploited in prostitution or
pornography worldwide.

150,000 Filipina women have been trafficked into prostitution in Japan.

(Press Statement, Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association,
"Open sale of little girls at Tanbaza brothel," Ô
 , 2 July 1998)

150 Filipinas were sold into prostitution to night club operators in

African countries, particularly Nigeria. The women were bought for
$5,000 each by international syndicates. Four Filipinas were rescued by
the Philippine Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria after they sought help from
officials. (Bureau of Immigration, Lira S. Dalagin, "150 Pinays sold as
sex slaves in Africa," Manila Chronicle, 31 May 1995)

In 1991, Filipinas were being sold in Japan, often to the Yakuza, at

$2,400 to $18,000 each. (CATW - Asia Pacific, 


 









)

In 1996, 492 of 3,776 reported cases of child abuse involved

pornography, prostitution, paedophilia and trafficking. There were 8,335
cases of child abuse from 1991-1996, 96% of the victims were females.
(Department of Social Welfare and Development, "375,000 Filipino
Women & Kids Are Into Prostitution," Philippine Ô

, 26
July 1997)

-Philippine women are vulnerable to trafficking due to the Asian

economic crisis. Requests for entertainer visas for Japan did not decline
in the first six months of 1998. Travel to Japan increased 21% in the first
half of this year compared with the same period in 1997. The label
"entertainer" sometimes implies "sex worker." The w The number of
prostituted persons in the Philippines is about the size of the country's
manufacturing workforce, according to Rene Ofreneo, a former
Philippine labor undersecretary and an expert on the sex trade. (Dario
Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study
says," , 18 August 1998)
There are 400,000 to 500,000 prostituted persons in the Philippines.
Prostituted persons are mainly adult women, but there are also male,
transvestite and child prostitutes, both girls and boys. (International
Labor Organization. Dario Agnote,

In the Philippines, a recent study showed there are about 75,000

children, who were forced into prostitution due to poverty.

omen are vulnerable in Japan, not because they lack skills, but because
they are young, beautiful women in a hazardous or vulnerable
occupation. Trafficking laws exists but are not enforced.

- There are 400,000 women in prostitution in 1998, excluding

unregistered, seasonal prostitutes, overseas entertainers and victims of
external trafficking. One fourth of them are children and each year 3,266
more children are forced into the sex industry.

- There are 375,000 women and children in prostitution in the

Philippines. Most of them, aged 15 - 20, are from semi-rural and urban
backgrounds and have been victims of incest and sexual
abuse ("375,000 Filipino Women and Kids Are Into
Prostitution,"


Ô
 
, 26 July 1997)

A 1997 report put the number of child victims of prostitution at

75,000 in the Philippines.,[10] with other estimates saying as many
as 100,000.[11]
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef)an
estimated 60,000 to 100,000 children in the Philippines are
involved in prostitution rings. According to the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) about 100,000 children are involved in
prostitution.[12] is a high incidence of child prostitution in tourist
areas. An undetermined number of children are forced into
exploitative labor operations.[13]
The Philippines is the fourth country with the most number of
prostituted children,[14] and authorities have identified an increase
in pedophilestravelling to the Philippines.[15]
There are estimated to be 375,000 women and girls in the sex
trade in the Philippines, mostly between the ages of 15 and 20,
though some are as young as 11. [16]

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

Societies state that there are more than 1.5 million street children
in the Philippines and many end up in prostitution and drug
trafficking
-Filipinos are the main users of Filipinas in prostitution.

-Filipino men who buy prostitutes don't care if she is 15 or 25.

- In 1984, there were 7 provinces with child sex rings. Today, they are
present in 37 provinces.

-Children, aged 11 to 15, in prostitution said relatives introduced them to

prostitution, or they were recruited by friends.

-The increase in the exploitation of prostituted children is attributed to

the fear of HIV/AIDS. Some people believe children have less risk of
having the disease. The sex trade in children is so well established,
because of the influx of sex tourists and the existence of sex tourism.

-Prostitution and sex trafficking are pervasive in the countryside.

According to a study made by various non-governmental organizations
led by the Women's Education, Development, Productivity and Research
Organization (WEDPRO), even remote rural areas are becoming favorite
sites for sex traffickers and prostitution syndicates.
ÔTeen-age girls are being forced into prostitution due to the Asian
economic crisis.
The Philippines is ranked under Tier 2 Watch List in the 2009
Trafficking in Persons Report of the United States (US) State
Department due to the Philippine government¶s alleged failure to
show evidence of progress in convicting trafficking offenders,
particularly those responsible for labor trafficking.
- A report published in 2004 by the Vatican stated: The
Philippines has a serious trafficking problem of women and
children illegally recruited into the tourist industry for sexual
exploitation. The promise of recruiters offers women and children
attractive jobs in the country or abroad, and instead they are
coerced and forced and controlled into the sex industry for
tourists.

- The Philippines is one of the favored destinations of paedophile sex

tourists from Europe and the United States.

-?[

 


Prostituted children remain prisoners of their damaged psyche despite

rehabilitation efforts. The longer a child stays in the sex industry, the
harder it is to overcome the trauma.

There is "no evidence" that children in prostitution can ever

rehabilitate. "Few children rescued from brothels have been able to
begin living anything like a healthy life again. The wisdom of trying to
end the prostitution of children rather than attempting to assist the
victims has been confirmed."
lonorrhea is the most common STD among children in prostitution.
"They drink water with a bit a TIDE detergent in the belief this would
prevent gonorrhea."

- The tourism program of the government which aims to project the

Philippines as a major tourist destination has increased the number of
prostituted women. As more and more areas of the country are
targeted for tourism, more and more women are driven to prostitution
in desperation to ensure their family's survival.

-The Philippines is the first Asian country to pass an anti-child abuse

law.

- In 1997 the Philippines signed anti-pedophilia cooperation

agreements with lreat Britain and Australia.

- The Philippines is the first Asian country to pass an Anti-Child Abuse

law. 158 cases of child abuse - including sexual exploitation - were filed
from 1994 - 1996. Five led to convictions.



- Government policies favor the export of entertainers and domestic

helpers that put women at risk The Philippines 2000 development plan
has increased violence against Filipino women. It has not solved the
problem of poverty but only worsened prostitution, violence against
migrant women, and increased the vulnerability of women to violence.

- Although according to law, prostitutes can receive 30 days

imprisonment, and procurers a minimum of six months to six years
imprisonment, most are only fined.
- Many victims of foreign paedophiles say they regret reporting the
offense, because they often see the paedophile post bail or flee the
country.

- Pedophilia, unwanted Amerasian children, and the spread of sexually

transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS virus.

- The International Labor Organization¶s call for governments to

recognize the sex industry was protested by Filipino advocacy groups.
Groups based in Angeles City, Olongapo City, Davao and the National
Capital region including Buklod Center, Nagkakaisang Kababaihan in
Angeles City, Bukal, and the Davao-based Lawig made statements at a
press conference. Participants included former prostituted women.
Statements include:

— "Legalizing prostitution is not an assurance that violence and

other forms of sexual abuses will not be committed. What it will
do is to legalize the abuses of paying customers since you are now
bound by a ͚legal contract͛," explained Pearly Bulawan of the
Buklod Center.
— What women engaged in prostitution need, the survivors of
prostitution said, is economic assistance in the form of jobs as
well as livelihood training and educational opportunities. "We
cannot accept the term ͚sex worker͛ to describe us."
— "You can never legalize profession or a job if it violates the rights
of women and degrades them," they added. Aida Santos of the
Women's Education, Development Productivity and Research
Organization (WEDPRO) explained that legalizing prostitution will
further aggravate the already serious gender inequality problem
experienced by the women. Prostitution, she said, has to be
viewed in the context of political, economic and social issues on a
gender structure and system that oppress women. "One
consistent factor we have observed in the course of our research
 and studies on prostitution is men's unchanging behavior toward
women," she revealed, adding that "even now, most males regard
women as inferiors."
— The women are asking for the decriminalization of prostitution
and the formulation of a law that will punish the owners of the
prostitution establishments, recruiters, pimps, traffickers, and the
clients.
— They appealed to law enforcers to stop taking advantage of
women during police raids, adding that these men in uniform are
also in the habit of exploiting the women by allowing full-blown
media coverage to the prejudice of the women, at the same time
sparing their (male) clientele.

"We need to reorient the people that prostitution is a violation of human

rights and that it's not okay to use or pay women for sex." ("Ex-
streetwalkers fight VFA: Form advocacy groups in urban centers,"



 , 18 September 1998)

- There are about 50,000 Filipino Amerasians in the Philippines,

fathered by American service men. They have remained underprivileged
and targets of the flesh trade because of their looks.

-Somewhere in Angeles city; STD cases rose five times. The RHWC
treated 1,421 cases in 2005, 2,516 cases in 2006 and 6,229
cases in 2007. Most of the afflicted were women.

-In 2003, Makati Mayor Jejomar C. Binay ordered a crackdown

against prostitution following reports that some prostitutes are
linked to criminal syndicates.

- Pregnancy, abortion, the spread of disease and drug abuse

were just some of the indignities imposed on Filipinas. Abortion is
illegal in the Philippines. Unsafe abortions render women
vulnerable not only to infections and other health complications,
but even to death. Because these abortions are carried out in
illegal abortion clinics there is no record of how many women and
children, if any, die each year as a result.

-women are exposed to abuse, physical, emotional and

psychological trauma;

low self-esteem and damaging their body and spirit. ³These

women, often referred to as criminals, are actually victims of the
system of prostitution. The violence and abuses they suffer in the
hands of customers and pimps cause deep wounds in their being.
The chances of full rehabilitation are slim for children who have
been sexually abused repeatedly. He adds: "We know that those
children who are kept in brothels die quite young. (They) die in
many cases before they have had a chance to live. We know they
die from AIDS, from drugs and from committing suicide.

EXTRA INFO> The problem is compounded by the fact that

society, even the church, discriminates against women in
prostitution.[149]
-Pimps bend the girls to their will, drug them. Degrading and
humiliating the girls is at the discretion of their international
clients. After two, three years the girls have lost their health
and beauty. From then on, they are on offer at bargain price to
local clients. The humiliation these girls have to go through
often drives them into self-destruction. With no self-esteem
their lives are on a dead-end journey. With drug addiction,
unwanted pregnancies, venereal disease and AIDS the girls
go to rack and ruin.

- Problems Related to Health include: lack of comprehensive

health services, not just on sexual health; women¶s lack of
knowledge of health issues; fear of doctors or medical
professionals; and or risky health practices; drug use and risk
from drugged client expensive and compulsory check-ups for
issuance of health certificates; compulsory HIV tests and the
lack of pre-test and post-test counseling, as well as the
violation of confidentiality (publicly announced results) or no
results given; lack of funds for hospitalization and health
emergencies; forced intake of contraceptive pills and unsafe
abortions.
Problems Related to the Law or the Legal System

$ Abusive, discriminatory conduct of raids, including arrests,

maltreatment during raids or while in custody, extortion for
release.
$ Women held in debt bondage.
$ Restriction of movement.
$ Anti-vagrancy laws are unconstitutional, i.e. they violate
equal protection and are classist and sexist in their
enforcement.
Problems Related to Services

$ Lack of education, especially in the areas of literacy, rights

awareness, and peer education.
$ Women have the status of criminals.
$ Inadequate support systems in the areas of counseling and
legal assistance, as well as child care.
$ The need for skills development, such as organizational and
management skills, leadership, negotiation and
documentation.
Problems Related to Violence Against Women

$ Trafficking in women by syndicates that practice active,

deceptive recruitment.
$ Economic abuse, i.e. no work, no food and poverty.
$ A high rate of rape.
$ Domestic violence.
 $ Violence caused by barangay (village) officials (fees,
competition, harassment).
$ Harmful physical, emotional, and psychological effects on
the women.

The ³salvaging´ or summary execution, especially of sick women.

LAWS:

-Republic Act 6955 declares as unlawful "the practice of matching

Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals on a mail order
basis." It is also unlawful under the R.A. 9208, the Anti-Trafficking
in Persons Act of 2003, a penal law against human trafficking, sex
tourism,sex slavery and child prostitution. The Philippines
Government first outlawed bride agencies in 1990 after being
alarmed at reports of widespread abuse of Philippine women in
other countries.
 Ô 
  

    
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Ô & c 

  

Vagrants and prostitutes; penalty. ² The following are
vagrants:
1. Any person having no apparent means of subsistence,
who has the physical ability to work and who neglects to
apply himself or herself to some lawful calling;
2. Any person found loitering about public or semi-public
buildings or places or trampling or wandering about the
country or the streets without visible means of support;
3. Any idle or dissolute person who ledges in houses of ill
fame; ruffians or pimps and those who habitually associate
with prostitutes;
4. Any person who, not being included in the provisions of
other articles of this Code, shall be found loitering in any
inhabited or uninhabited place belonging to another without
any lawful or justifiable purpose;
5. Prostitutes.
For the purposes of this article, women who, for money or profit,
habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct, are
deemed to be prostitutes. Any person found guilty of any of the
offenses covered by this articles shall be punished by arresto
menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, and in case of
recidivism, by arresto mayor in its medium period to prison
correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to
2,000 pesos, or both, in the discretion of the court.
Ô & c 

  
(
Penal Code article 341 imposes a penalty to any person who
³shall engage in the business or shall profit by prostitution or shall
enlist the services of any other person for the purpose of
prostitution."[156]
Ô 
  
Section 4 of Republic Act 9208, otherwise known as the "Anti-
Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003", deems it unlawful for any
person, natural or juridical, to commit any of the following acts:
(a) To recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, provide, or receive a
person by any means, including those done under the pretext of
domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship,
for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation,
forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
(b) To introduce or match for money, profit, or material, economic
or other consideration, any person or, as provided for under
Republic Act No. 6955, any Filipino women to a foreign national,
for marriage for the purpose of acquiring, buying, offering, selling
or trading him/her to engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual
exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt
bondage;
(c) To offer or contract marriage, real or simulated, for the
purpose of acquiring, buying, offering, selling, or trading them to
engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced
labor or slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
(d) To undertake or organize tours and travel plans consisting of
tourism packages or activities for the purpose of utilizing and
offering persons for prostitution, pornography or sexual
exploitation;
(e) To maintain or hire a person to engage in prostitution or
pornography;
(f) To adopt or facilitate the adoption of persons for the purpose of
prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor,
slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
(g) To recruit, hire, adopt, transport or abduct a person, by means
of threat or use of force, fraud deceit, violence, coercion, or
intimidation for the purpose of removal or sale of organs of said
person; and
(h) To recruit, transport or adopt a child to engage in armed
activities in the Philippines or abroad.
Ô 
  )*(Ô+ 
c
 


 

 ,


  
 
Sec. 5. Child Prostitution and Other Sexual Abuse. - Children,
whether male or female, who for money, profit, or any other
consideration or due to the coercion or influence of any adult,
syndicate or group, indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious
conduct, are deemed to be children exploited in prostitution and
other sexual abuse.
The penalty of reclusion temporal in its medium period to
reclusion perpetua shall be imposed upon the following:
(a) Those who engage in or promote, facilitate or induce
child prostitution which include, but are not limited to, the
following:
(1) Acting as a procurer of a child prostitute;
(2) Inducing a person to be a client of a child prostitute by
means of written or oral advertisements or other similar
means;
(3) Taking advantage of influence or relationship to procure
a child as prostitute;
(4) Threatening or using violence towards a child to engage
him as a prostitute; or
 (5) Giving monetary consideration goods or other pecuniary
benefit to a child with intent to engage such child in
prostitution.
(b) Those who commit the act of sexual intercourse of
lascivious conduct with a child exploited in prostitution or
subject to other sexual abuse; Provided, That when the
victims is under twelve (12) years of age, the perpetrators
shall be prosecuted under Article 335, paragraph 3, for rape
and Article 336 of Act No. 3815, as amended, the Revised
Penal Code, for rape or lascivious conduct, as the case may
be: Provided, That the penalty for lascivious conduct when
the victim is under twelve (12) years of age shall be
reclusion temporal in its medium period; and
(c) Those who derive profit or advantage therefrom, whether
as manager or owner of the establishment where the
prostitution takes place, or of the sauna, disco, bar, resort,
place of entertainment or establishment serving as a cover
or which engages in prostitution in addition to the activity for
which the license has been issued to said establishment.
Sec. 6. Attempt To Commit Child Prostitution. - There is an
attempt to commit child prostitution under Section 5, paragraph
(a) hereof when any person who, not being a relative of a child, is
found alone with the said child inside the room or cubicle of a
house, an inn, hotel, motel, pension house, apartelle or other
similar establishments, vessel, vehicle or any other hidden or
secluded area under circumstances which would lead a
reasonable person to believe that the child is about to be
exploited in prostitution and other sexual abuse.
There is also an attempt to commit child prostitution, under
paragraph (b) of Section 5 hereof when any person is receiving
services from a child in a sauna parlor or bath, massage clinic,
health club and other similar establishments. A penalty lower by
two (2) degrees than that prescribed for the consummated felony
under Section 5 hereof shall be imposed upon the principals of
the attempt to commit the crime of child prostitution under this
Act, or, in the proper case, under the Revised Penal Code.
- 
  *--Ô'
Ô
   
RA 6955 basically declares as unlawful "the practice of matching
Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals on a mail order
basis."
- 
  Ô' "
 .&  /


 
RA 8042 (Long title: An Act to Institute the Policies of Overseas
Employment and Establish a Higher Standard of Protection and
Promotion of The Welfare of Migrant Workers, Their Families and
Overseas Filipinos in Distress, and for Other Purposes.) The act
contains provisions which regulate the recruitment of overseas
workers; mandate establishment of a mechanism for free legal
assistance for victims of illegal recruitment; direct all embassies
and consular offices to issue travel advisories or disseminate
information on labor and employment conditions, migration
realities and other facts; regulate repatriation of workers in
ordinary cases and provide a mechanism for repatriation in
extraordinary cases; mandate establishment of a Migrant Workers
and Other Overseas Filipinos Resource Center to provide social
services to returning worker and other migrants; mandate the
establishment of a Migrant Workers Loan Guarantee Fund to
provide pre-departure and family assistance loans; establishes a
legal assistance fund for migrant workers; and other provisions
related to Filipino migrant workers. The act, approved on June 7,
1995, mandates that pursuant to the objectives of deregulation
the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) shall, within a
period of five (5) years, phase-out the regulatory functions of
the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration(POEA).[159]
!
  


0
))
House of Representatives of the Philippines Citizen's Battle
Against Corruption (CIBAC) Reps. Emmanuel Joel Villanueva and
Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales, on September 24, filed House
Resolution No. 779 to intensify the fight against human trafficking
on all levels, from legislation, policy formulation, enforcement and
prosecution, to rehabilitation and support for victims. Villanueva
said: "Human trafficking is fast becoming a major transnational
crime next only to the illegal drugs trade and illegal arms trade.
Most of the victims of trafficking are being exploited as
commercial sex workers, forced laborers and even unwilling
organ donors. We must consider the reports of the victims that
lack of funds and resources are key problems in the full
implementation of the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act, including
the necessary support and protection." The National Bureau of
Investigation (Philippines) reported "more than 400,000 persons
from both government and non-government organizations who
are victims of trafficking and almost 100,000 of these victims are
children." Cruz-Gonzales said: "As of last year, only a little over a
thousand cases were officially reported."[160]
  %
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has designated
human Trafficking as a crime against humanity. [3][4] [6][7] In 2002,
theInternational Criminal Court (ICC) was established in The
Hague (Netherlands) and the Rome Statute provides for the ICC
to have jurisdiction over crimes against humanity. For the purpose
of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of the
following acts when committed as part of a widespread or
systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with
knowledge of the attack:
(a) Murder;
(b) Extermination;
(c) Enslavement;
(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical
liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
(f) Torture;
(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution,
forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form
of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity
on political, racial, national,
ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3,
or other grounds that are universally recognized as
impermissible under international law, in connection with any
act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the
jurisdiction of the Court;
(i) Enforced disappearance of persons;
(j) The crime of apartheid;
(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally
causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental
or physical health.