(14) Angel Tristan S. Lim & (11) Amber B.

Garma 12-Miki

CONCEPT PAPER: THE SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF FILIPINO CHILDREN

I. INTRODUCTION (Presentation of the Issue)

1. Child sex tourism and child cybersex trafficking are prevalent and growing

industries in the Philippines.

2. The factors contributing to this prevalence and growth are mainly the

current socio-economic conditions of the country; the increase in access to cheaper

internet and advancements in digital technology; and poor implementation of laws

that prevent and punish crimes involving child sex tourism and child cybersex

trafficking.

3. Around the Philippines, hundreds of thousands of women, young girls and

boys, and transvestites are working as prostitutes, many of them introduced to the job

by parents or relatives as a way to earn quick and easy money for the family

(Cantarini, 2).

4. One of the main sources of income for the Philippines is Commercial Sex

Work, which can be done physically (through prostitution) or non-physically (through

internet live-cams/sex shows) both of which have many overseas

consumers/customers (Bagley et al., 5).

II. BODY (Discussion of Factors and Effects on Victims)

A. Discussion of Factors

1. Rampant poverty and unemployment drive Filipino families to force their

children into the aforementioned industries.

·A study by Zafft and Tidball in 2010 surveying the Philippines’ child sex

tourism scene emphasized the role of poverty and financial desperation in the
perpetuation of the industry. The lack of opportunities for both education and

employment in impoverished communities often drive young men and women,

particularly those who are the eldest children and who are expected to become

breadwinners for their families, to involve themselves in sex tourism. In many cases,

the victims’ own families push them to become part of the industry (p. 9).

2. The country’s access to cheap internet, as well as the creation of websites

that allow untraceable correspondence between child prostitutes and foreign

customers encourages both parties to engage in the industry. Another factor unique to

the rise of child cybersex trafficking in the Philippines is Filipinos’ generally good

command of the English language.

· In 2016, Oliver Holmes published an article for international news website

The Guardian which looked into the factors influencing the distinct rise of child

cybersex trafficking in the Philippines. The article identifies increased internet speed

and access throughout the country, the creation of encrypted live-streaming websites

and cryptocurrency platforms, and the ability of Filipinos to communicate well with

offenders as the primary factors. The article also notes that child cybersex trafficking

in the Philippines is most often perpetrated by families rather than syndicate groups.

(p.1)

3. The aforementioned industries continue to operate despite there being

national laws against child trafficking because a culture of silence surrounds the

industries, perpetrated by both law enforcers and community members.

Interviews with the locals of Sabang, Palawan --- a Philippine town notorious

for being a sex tourism hub --- in a case study conducted by Ekoluoma in

2017, showed that while most townspeople did not approve of or respect the
 industry, but also refused to report it because they knew it was the only source

of income for numerous families in the area (p. 141).

B. Effects on Victims

1. Sexual exploitation at such a young age leads to a high number of often

negative effects which can be split into two categories: psychological effects

and physiological effects.

2. According to Angela Cantarini, “[The children] are psychologically damaged

and the longer they spend being a prostitute the harder it is to overcome the

trauma.” (p.9)

3. Aside from children being psychologically affected, children also, “catch the

common STD Gonorrhea…” (Cantarini, 9), meaning that children who are

sexually exploited are also more prone to Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

III. CONCLUSION (Presentation of Solutions)

1. Better funding for educational programs, job training and rehabilitation is

necessary to improve the quality of life of victims.

2. Steps must be taken in order to ensure change of environment for victims.

3. Stronger investigation and stricter laws against perpetrators are integral to

victims’ peace of mind and healing.

4. Developing or uplifting poor communities where sexual exploitation is

rampant, in order to break cycle of poverty that leads citizens to resort to illegal and

undignified sources of income, is the most important solution to put an end to child

sex tourism and cybersex trafficking.

REFERENCES

Bagley, Christopher, et al. “Adolescent Girls Offered Alternatives to Commercial Sexual

Exploitation: A Case Study from the Philippines.” ​Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation

and Violence,​ vol. 2, no. 2, 2017, doi:10.23860/dignity.2017.02.01.08.

Cantarini, Andrea. “Child Prostitution in the Philippines”. 2013

Ekoluoma, Mari-Elina. “Everyday Life in a Philippine Sex Tourism Town”. ​Uppsala Studies

in Cultural Anthropology. ​2017. DiVA Portal,

uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1064095/FULLTEXT01.pdf .

Holmes, Oliver. “How child sexual abuse became a family business in the Philippines”. ​The

Guardian, ​2016,

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/31/live-streaming-child-sex-abuse-family-business-p

hilippines​ .

Zafft, Carmen; Tidball, Sriyani. “A Survey of Child Sex Tourism in the Philippines”. ​Second

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking. 2​ 010. Digital Commons at

University of Nebraska-Lincoln,

digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=humtrafconf2 .