321 girls sold to Cebu brothels, says anti-child trafficking group

CEBU — Despite the govern—ment’s efforts to curb sexual abuses, hundreds of young girls are reportedly being forced to enter the flesh trade.

In Cebu alone, there are 321 recorded cases of women and children sold to casas or brothels as of June last year, according to the organization End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT).

Since the group only started recording the cases three years ago, the calculation translates into an average of 107 victims a year, or eight victims a month or two victims a week.

According to ECPAT program coordinator Josefine Alforque, most of these sexually exploited girls come from the southern towns of Cebu as well as Negros and Mindanao, particularly the cities of Surigao, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

"Child trafficking in Cebu is a real problem and we have to do something about it," Alforque told The Freeman.

Alforque said that unless there is a continuing education on the effects of child trafficking conducted among parents, communities, local leaders and the general public, the number of girls in sex dens will rise dramatically in the next few years.

Haley Atienza, assistant program director of the Fellowship for Organizing Endeavors Inc. (FORGE), said that apart from answering the concerns of women, utmost attention should be given to protect young girls from sex syndicates.

Atienza said the burden of poverty falls more heavily on girls as some of them are being pushed by their parents to prostitution, if not child labor.

Atienza said girls aged 11 to 17 are among the usual victims of violence and abuses.

Ruth Restauro, another FORGE volunteer social worker, revealed that about 3.5 million Filipino children aged five to seven are being forced by their parents to earn a living to sustain their families.

Records from the National Statistics Office show that there are about 613,204 and 7,697 working minors in Cebu province and Cebu City, respectively.

Restauro said that because of poverty, a considerable number of children were not able to go to school.

She said that in 1999, records show that 100,039 Filipino children dropped out of grade school, while 40,308 children dropped out of high school.

Atienza said the Filipino culture’s insensitivity to gender relations is to be partly blamed for the situation. He said the portrayal of females as dictated by our culture has permitted the abuses. — Freeman News Service