MANILA, Philippines - The 2009 MTV Exit kicks off in the Philippines on May 22 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds featuring Bamboo, Callalily, Duster, Itchyworms, Kamikazee, Kjwan, Parokya ni Edgar, Pochoy Labog, Pupil, Rico Blanco, and Sponge Cola.
MTV Philippines, together with other organizations worldwide, presents MTV Exit, a campaign that will stage live tours to spread the urgency of fighting trafficking and exploitation. Supported by homegrown artists, MTV Exit will have four concerts at four major cities across the Philippines this year, kicking off on May 22 at the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds. The series of gigs is for anyone who wants to make a difference.
Advocates will march from Roxas Boulevard to the concert ground. These volunteers are from the different participating NGOs. The march will start at 2 p.m. right before the 5 p.m. program to be hosted by MTV VJ Kat Alano and Epi Quizon.
This is a campaign about freedom — about “our rights as human beings to choose where we live, where we work, who our friends are, and who we love.” Most of us take these freedoms for granted, but hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world have had these basic human rights taken away. They are victims of trafficking — modern-day slaves — and criminals have forced, defrauded, or coerced them into various forms of labor, or prostitution.
The UN International Labor Organization estimates that worldwide about 2.5 million people are victims of trafficking (ILO) over half of these people are in Asia and the Pacific (ILO). Criminals earn an estimated US$10 billion every year through buying and selling human beings (UN).