“THE problem with these girls is they can’t let go of their work.”
That’s what a social welfare officer said after it was found out that one of the 26 females rescued by police from a Cebu City bar last Friday had been “rescued” before from another bar two years ago.
The 19-year-old girl comes from a middle-class family and worked in the bar not because of poverty, said Edna Regudo of the Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU).
“She continued her education and was basically contained by her parents. We did not know she went back to working in a bar until the latest rescue,” Regudo said.
She said about 20 women, aged 18 to 20, were also released on Saturday after they showed proof that they were adults.
The bar girls have the option of staying in a center for a rehabilitation program.
“They can even avail of our programs on education, livelihood, skills training,” Regudo said.
“But we know the girls do not right away accept these government programs. Social workers constantly visit them until they are convinced.”
If they would allow themselves to be renewed, they would certainly live a normal life, she said. /Correspondent Jessa Marie J. Agua