‘Poverty exposing kids to foreign predators’

Nearly half of 2.8 million children were classified as poor while there were 80 victims of sexual abuse and 27 trafficking victims recorded in Central Visayas early this year.

These were some of the findings disclosed in yesterday’s “Child Wise Tourism Training Workshop” participated in by social welfare and law enforcement agencies at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).

The participants also discussed ways to eliminate trafficking of minors, which was described as “serious” by the regional Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

DSWD official Shalaine Marie Lucero said their overview of the conditions for children in the region showed that 1.2 million out of 2.8 million were poor.

“This year we will re-certify the poor children and assess them again to determine if they qualified in the Pantawid Pamilya Program,” she said.

Lucero said their office enrolled 140,714 children in day care centers while 54,881 of them were beneficiaries of the “Pantawid Pamilya Program.”

Eighty minors were sexually abused and 27 were trafficking victims aged 13-18 years old.

The youngest aged two to three years old were rescued from Cordova town, a known hotspot for cyber pornography and trafficking.

Lucero encouraged people to become foster families or adoptive families of the children for them to experience a happy home life.

“We should be aware of the laws that protect them and be advocates of these laws,” she said.

Lucero described as serious the sex tourism problem in Region 7.

Insp. Sheryl Bautista of the Police Regional Office (PRO-7) said that so far they have rescued 34 minors and arrested 13 perpetrators this year.

Of that number, seven were Americans, two Australians, one Japanese and one Australian.

Aside from Cordova town, other areas in Cebu that were classified as sex tourism sites were the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Toledo, Bogo and Danao and the towns of Daanbantayan and Minglanilla.

Bautista said seminars on anti-trafficking should be conducted in resorts located in northern Cebu.

Josephine Alforque of the End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (EPCAT) lamented that even parents contribute to the exploitation of their children to escape their poverty.

“Children are at risk globally because of the exploitation. The victims are paid a pittance of P20 while the recruiters receive more,” Alforque said.

The “Child Wise Training Workshop” sponsored by the Department of Tourism is aimed at preventing child sex tourism in Cebu.

A series of activities for grade school students and the launching of the “Child Wise Tourism Program” will be held at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City.