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By
Inday Espina-Varona, Maricel Cruz,
Jena Balaoro and Ma. Ester Espina
Third of four parts
(The commercial exploitation of youths for
sex has been described as “one of the most abhorrent manifestation
of human depravity — because innocent and defenseless children are
victims.” Part Three describes the reasons that drove children to
sell their bodies.)
“A child learns what he lives.”
Mariles is 17. She has been selling sex for the
last four years. Her mother caught Mariles in bed with her
stepfather, a man five years the older woman’s junior, a man who
stayed home and cared for three children while mom worked long hours
in an upscale beauty parlor.
Mariles’ mom had ambition for her kids. She
sent them to Catholic schools. She guarded Mariles, her only
daughter and an “early bloomer,” like a hawk, forever bemoaning
the youthful passion that gave her the first unwanted baby. Frank
was Mariles’ bodyguard and friend, a kind bum who often took her
side against an overly strict mom. One thing led to another. Shortly
before her 13th birthday, while her older brothers partied in a
barangay all across Iloilo City, Frank took Mariles to bed.
Mariles still refuses to blame Frank, now 45,
and still living with her mom. She only harps on her mother’s
words while throwing her out of the house. “Puta raw ako.” (She
called me a whore.) “Eh di nag-puta nga.” (So I became a whore.)
Many prostituted children were victims of
incest. The lack of expert intervention compounds feelings of guilt.
“Children are sexual. They crave love,”
notes lawyer Rowena Guanzon. “It is not their fault when adults
exploit their young needs.”
A question of power
Guanzon, the lawyer for eight minors who have
charged American Vietnam War veteran Victor Pearson with 78 counts
of rape, despairs at the unfeeling treatment child victims of
commercial sex exploitation get from their elders.
Poverty, whether financial or emotional, remains
the major cause of child prostitution.
“If they are poor, they don’t get the
benefit of education, they don’t get skills, and they don’t get
jobs. Thus, (children) get prostituted,” she notes.
“Some get abused at home. Instead of being
helped, they are punished, made to believe they are the criminals.
It is a tragedy many children cannot cope with,” she adds.
Incest and all other cases of sexual abuse of
children is largely a question of power, Guanzon points out.
Unfortunately, general society tends to
reinforce the notion that children are chattels and often treat
victims of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) as
misbehaving kids who deserve their miserable situation.
“Child prostitute is not even an appropriate
term,” Guanzon tells The Manila Times. Republic Act 7610, “An
Act Providing for Stronger Deterrents and Special Protection Against
Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination,” uses the term
“children in prostitution.”
“Children are victims,” the lawyer insists.
“They are exploited by adults who make money out of them or use
them for sexual satisfaction. No child wants to become a
prostitute.”
“I believe a child cannot give consent to
being prostituted. Those who say these children like selling their
bodies because it’s easy are missing the whole point.”
Living dolls
The Pearson case will forever haunt Guanzon and
other Negros activists against CSEC. Not only because the scale of
the abuse — aside from the eight children, Pearson boasted of a
stable of adult “live-in lovers” — but because it happened
right under the noses of Sugarlandia’s most elite families.
Pearson, a former Marine bomb expert, settled in
Bgy. Andulawan, Ilog in the 1970s. His $2,000 monthly pension gave
him the financial power to gain entry into polite society. He built
a sprawling compound with a swimming pool and several cottages where
he would house staff and guests, and loved to give parties.
Soon, he was invited into Stand Fast, a
brotherhood of prominent individuals responsible for reviving
Kabankalan town’s Sinulog Festival. Among the leading lights of
the group is Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco, who insists
they never knew of Pearson’s sexual proclivities.
But cops seized 78 tapes of sex scenes,
apparently from the parties Pearson hosted, showing a substantial
number of important local officials — local department
executives, lawyers, and doctors, including officials of the
municipal health offices.
Guanzon’s eyes blaze with contempt as she
speculates on how many generations of children suffered in
Pearson’s compound as their social “betters” frolicked,
courtesy of the American rich enough to afford living dolls.
It goes beyond neglect, says Guanzon, who plans
to later file cases against locals shown in the Pearson videos.
Pearson’s own defense witness testified:
“They (children) slept with him and kissed him lips to lips in
public.”
The American could face the death penalty once
psychiatrists complete evaluation of a 15-year-old girl with the
mental faculties of a child younger than 12 years old. The case
against the American would then be statutory rape.
The victim claims that at one time, Pearson had
sex with her and her 22-year-old sister together. The sister denies
the claim.
Pearson claims he loved his housemaids, some of
whom he sent to school and provided with allowances. But his victims
claim he beat up everyone in his household, and forced them to smoke
marijuana and dance naked, before having sex as a video camera
rolled.
The American thought sex was his god-given
right. He told one victim: “Amo gid na di ang ginahimo sang mga
baye, tanan gaagi gid sa akon.” (That’s what girls do here, they
all pass through me).
She kept mum because Pearson, who also allegedly
invited police officials to his parties threatened to kill her and
her family. “Money is power,” the victim quoted Pearson as
telling her.
Many of his victims were related and were
brought to Pearson by their mothers. Guanzon says the parents were
not aware of the circumstances. “They just knew he was a rich
American who paid well.”
One victim said Pearson left the room in disgust
when she cried the first time he tried to force himself on her.
At that point, her cousin and the housekeeper
approached her and tried to convince her to give in to Pearson’s
“whims.”
They explained to her that if she would not
allow him to touch her, the American would get mad and beat her.
They said he would whip them, too.
Conspiracy
The conspiracy against children crosses class
and geography, says Maria Elena Caraballo, director of the Council
for the Welfare of Children (CWC).
Although Congress has passed eight major bills
providing protection for children, implementation is weak due to
lack of political will and advocacy among government officials,
particularly in the local government levels, Caraballo says.
“What is unfortunate is government seems to be
focusing on law enforcement, in terms of raiding (bars) and putting
women in jail,” notes Guanzon.
While RA 7610 provides for criminal liability of
managers or owners of establishments where prostitution takes place,
police and media emphasize the prostituted women, taking delight in
their embarrassment.
“The owners and managers and the customers
should be arrested,” the lawyer demands.
Also, while the law sanctions the closure or
cancellation of the license to operate of erring clubs, “we
don’t hear of mayors canceling permits.”
“A bar closes today, reopens next week.
Government agencies do not aggressively go after these places used
as fronts for prostitution. Many of these establishments pay
protection money to policemen and officers,” the lawyer adds.
Caraballo and Guanzon stress that the law does
not penalize the child exploited in prostitution.
“When the police raid bars and find children
there, they are not supposed to arrest them,” Guanzon says. “The
police must call a social worker to take the child into custody.”
Priorities
Caraballo laments that local government units (LGUs)
give less priority to the CSEC cases.
But LGUs are in the best position to act on
national policies and programs since the Local Government Code of
1991 provides for decentralized authority and gives them full
autonomy over local development plans and programs.
While prostitution is officially banned, the
actions of government, however, tend to sanction the continued
operation and activities of joints involved in prostitution.
The government’s efforts actually seem to
brace the industry, Caraballo charges.
A clear example is the issuance of working
permits to girls who work in bikini bars, or karaoke bars. Moreover,
the Department of Health (DoH) or city health offices tolerate the
activity of sex workers by issuing medical clearances (also known as
pink cards).
Guanzon urges the government to work harder in
providing employment for children and women who get into
prostitution for lack of better alternatives.
Also, Guanzon points out, the government’s
protective services for children are not effective enough to ensure
that the rights of the child are protected.
There are very few incentives for police
officers who rescue children from prostitution.
While cops are given medals and rewards when
they arrest kidnap and narcotics trade suspects, law enforcers who
rescue women and children from prostitution joints are ignored.
“Law enforcers must set priorities on
the protection of children’s rights. The significance that
law enforcers give to protection of the rights of children is very
small.”
(To be continued)
First Part
| Second Part
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