Fair Trade must oppose sex-slavery

When I first began a small project to give poor people a skilled training and work with respect, dignity, fair wages and good working conditions in 1975, it was not called Preda Fair Trade. It was and is, normal ethical practice to give work with dignity, a fair wage and good working conditions, which everyone is supposed to do. But many don’t. It was a practical way to alleviate the misery and degrading life of the throwaway people and youth of Olongapo City.

That is how Preda Development Fair Trade began in 1975 when children and youth were being jailed, and executed as criminals in the city during the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos. The youth were shot by a death squad for protesting against injustice or were suspected of being drug users.