Human trafficking worsened, say groups

DAVAO CITY—More and more people, particularly women, are falling prey to human trafficking syndicates in Northern Mindanao out of sheer poverty, groups keeping watch on trafficking cases said.

Bernardo Mondragon, head of the group Child Alert, said most cases of human trafficking in the region involved minors who are lured into the growing but clandestine world of “sex entertainment” because of poverty.

Jeanette Ampog, head of the group Talikala, said the increase in the number of human-trafficking victims is directly proportional to an increase in levels of poverty where human trafficking thrives.

Ampog said her group had documented 35 cases of human trafficking in this city alone. Of these, 33 cases involved minors, aged 17 and below, as victims.

She said this was alarming as it indicated that the city has become both a destination and jump-off point for trafficked minors and women.

Child Alert and Talikala estimate that at least 6,000 women and children had been lured to prostitution in the city.

From the city, prostituted women are sent to the towns of Isulan, Tacurong and Polomolok in Sultan Kudarat; Cebu, Palawan, Puerto Galera and Manila. Into the city, trafficked women are sent from Monkayo in Compostela Valley, Agusan, Surigao and Davao del Sur.

“Although most of the victims of human trafficking are women, some boys are also being lured into cybersex dens in Davao City because of the promise of big money,” said Mondragon.

He said Child Alert had documented cases of minors, as young as 14 years old, lured into Davao’s cybersex dens, that are so mobile and backed by powerful syndicates that they continued to elude authorities. Mondragon said cybersex dens are set up mostly in private residences.

“Their experience has left a very deep scar in their self esteem,” he said of three boys  his group had rescued.

“Psychosocial workers have difficulty helping them regain their self-esteem because they feel dirty about themselves,” he said. The boys opened up to Child Alert after attending the group’s information campaign.

“At first, one of them was surprised to earn P12,000 in 15 days,” said Mondragon. “But it did not last long. Eventually, they were earning only a third of that amount and the work left a deep psychological mark on them.”

He said the minors are made to perform live sex before a mostly foreign Internet audience six hours a day. “They only need three laptops and 25 children in a room,” Mondragon said. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao