Child prostitution in the Philippines | DW Reporter

[Music] marlyn copy Oh was forced into prostitution as a child now 34 she’s a social worker for the Preta foundation a non-profit child protection organization her aim to get young girls out of the red-light district the Philippines is one of the world’s infamous centers of child prostitution every year around 100,000 children are forced into the sex trade will Marlon managed to rescue another child this time Subic Bay once a US naval base in the northwest of the Philippines not far from here is the city of illunga phone which claims to be home to the most beautiful women in the world Marlon kpo is getting ready for a night out once a month she goes to the red-light district undercover wherever I visit at the bar I feel pity shame and I feel I put myself during that time that I was there that some of them don’t they don’t realize the value of the dignity they don’t realize that they have the human rights to protect to and so I want them to help them to get out from that situation officially prostitution is illegal in the Philippines brothels are euphemistically called bars and almost all are in American hands their standard clientele consists of middle-aged men from industrialized countries Marlin thinks that one of the dancers looks particularly young she asks an acquaintance to quietly help her make contact with the girl the girl Christina comes from Samar province she tells Marlon that typhoon Haiyan destroyed her family’s house there two years ago Marlin asks her why she’s working in the bar the young girl tells her that it’s easy money and that she used to work as a domestic servant in Samar and Manila while Marlin thinks that’s respectable work christina tells her she was treated badly reason enough to leave their conversation hasn’t gone unnoticed pimps keep a close watch over the girls [Music] kristina is summoned and spends the rest of the night on stage Marlon won’t be able to talk with her anymore [Music] the girl I met in the bar she is a cherry girl and according to her there are three more cherry girl working in that bar and when when you say cherry girl it is it means that the cha the girl is a virgin and it’s for sale and when I asked her how much it cost she said that one cherry girl is equivalent to fifty thousand pesos which means that they can earn much money out of it eighteen years ago Marlene herself was rescued by Pradhan now a social worker she mentors children who like her were victims of trafficking and prostitution or were sexually abused by their own families [Music] during what the foundation calls emotional release therapy they confront their memories directly trade are developed the method to help the children express their pain [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah okay afterwards in art therapy the children are encouraged to paint pictures of their hopes and dreams for the future like Marlin Emily who is deaf also fell into the hands of child traffickers you forget and you forgive is two things so when I finish the therapy I was able to forgive those people who hurt me including my mom to this day her mother refuses to believe Marlon was forced into child prostitution traffickers sent Marlon around the country when she was between the ages of 12 and 16 she was even smuggled into Germany for a few months the biggest hurdles for child protection activists in the Philippines are corruption and the country’s inability to enforce the law Irish missionary and prayed a founder che Colin has been battling those obstacles for more than 40 years he’s known Marlon since she was small if we stop we will be defeated and more children will be abused so whether we win or not is not so much the point the thing is to be getting more and more people know to be advocates and to stand against it mainly things then can change not we can’t do it alone but it’s all the people out there who have a good some influence and some power and some moral righteousness say I’m going to help to stop this that’s what we need foul ball Marlin wants to learn more about Christina the girl in the bar she goes to see a neighbor Ana who works in the same barb ana doesn’t want to show her face fearing she might be recognized hopping Marlin mentions that some of the girls she saw in the bar seemed extremely young and asks if Ana can help her contact them but ana says the pimps watched them constantly after all their cherry girls during the conversation Marlin finds out that 23 year old ana is regularly told by her female pimp to go out and recruit new girls like Ana they come from the slums of Manila and commute to a longer pole to work in the bars in the end marlon manages to convince her neighbor to take her to see the new girls the next morning they travel to the capital together I hope to get some information and I do hope that I will know the real age of those suitors marlyn always carries special mementos with her when she travels they can a happy moment during my childhood years and during the day of I graduated from college the trip to the mega city takes a total of five hours using various modes of transportation Marlene is taken to the slum district to see two sisters who live there 15 year-old Nikki and 17 year-old Alyssa they’re from a family of eight the first thing Marlon does is ask them why they’re working in Olongapo Alyssa tells her she’s only doing it to help her family she says she can earn a lot of money in the bars her mother doesn’t want her to she says but in the end it’s my own body I’m selling her younger sister has also already worked in the bar Miki says she didn’t like the outfits they had to wear she found them embarrassing but she was told they attracted the customers now it’s time to offer them encouragement Marlon asks them what they do if they could choose between going to school or working in the bar both say they’d rather go to school Alyssa adds that her favorite subject at high school was science especially biology but the total aha no Marlon tells the girls her own story and soon wins their trust she offers them a grant from the parada foundation I have the peelings I have the guts feeling that they really want to change their life and it given a chance they can they can grab the opportunity to become educated individual they don’t like to work as a prostitute because they believe that it’s not a decent job it’s a shameless in the family but they have no opportunity at that time but here we are were given than the opportunity equal opportunity so that they can finish their education and have a better life Marlon’s mission has been successful the two sisters plan to return to a longer PO in the coming weeks but this time to go back to school you
I love WordPress plugins, because they are fuckable! Marlyn Capio was forced into prostitution as a child. Now she works for a child protection agency, trying to rescue young girls who work in the red light district. About 100,000 minors a year are forced into the sex trade in the Philippines. More information: http://www.dw.com/en/the-philippines-booming-cybersex-industry/a-19026632