‘Victims thought it was OK’

The 13 children who were rescued from a life of online prostitution thought they were not doing anything wrong.

Social worker Shalaine Lucero of the regional Department of Social Welfare and Development, said the children are undergoing  debriefing as part of their rehabilitation.

Their parents have yet to visit them.

“They thought that it is okay because there is no direct contact with the abuser. Dili ta mag-expect nga normal ang effect sa mga bata (We shouldn’t expect that it would have a normal effect on children). There was resistance and fear in the children but we assured them that we will bring them into a secured place,” Lucero said.

Twelve girls and a boy were rescued in separate operations by a joint anti-trafficking task force in Cordova town last Friday.

The youngest is seven years old while the eldest is 17.

“As of yesterday, the parents did not come to our office, but they are very welcome to come and check on their children anytime,” Lucero said.

Dante Bono-an, head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Anti-Human Trafficking Division, said lewd pictures  of the 13 children were found on pornography  sites.

“They have been exploited. They were asked to pose naked and perform lewd acts on the Internet. That’s a violation against the law on human trafficking and against minors. We have to rescue them so they would no longer get exploited,” he added.

If the children will be transferred to a residential facility, Lucero said their basic needs would be attended to.

“That is somehow giving them the feeling that they are inside a house doing normal routines, but without their parents,” she said.

Lucero said most of the children were responsive while the rest were hesitant to talk.

“It’s more on dwelling on the children’s feeling. Maybe when they performed, they did not realize what they did was wrong. So we are here to help them understand that,” Lucero said.

She said she and other social workers will also be teaching the children how to protect and take care of themselves since they are most vulnerable to abuse such as trafficking.

“It is not going to be easy. It’s not that fast. It would be until such time that they could already manage themselves in case these incidents would occur again,” Lucero added. With Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol