Posted on Saturday, October 5, 2002

Weak laws, fund hack hamper fight against flesh trade

By Inday Espina-Varona, Maricel Cruz, Jena Balaoro and Ma. Ester Espina

Conclusion

(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.” But the government itself is not equipped with the funds and the legislation to help young sex workers, as this final installment shows.)

Around 10 percent of the country’s estimated 70,000 child victims of prostitution were introduced into the trade by their own parents, according to government and private studies. Very few children involved in the flesh trade are independent; most depend financially and emotionally on their adult pimps.

Yet enforcement of Republic Act 7610 or the “Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act,” hardly focuses on pimps or clients. Experts on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) say existing legislation is shot full of holes. Also, a dearth in public funds hampers efforts to monitor the problem, much less provide intervention for child victims of prostitution and other children at high risk of entering the flesh trade.

Government and private data do not even reflect a realistic picture of CSEC. The Department of Social Welfare and Develop­ment (DSWD) record shows a 20.43-percent increase in CSEC victims in 2001, from 186 in 2000 to 224. The figures, according to social workers themselves, are “just a fraction of the real numbers.”

Even more glaring, they fret, is the “incredible” figure repre­senting male child prostitutes — one in 2001 and zero the year before. That may be explained by the fact that male CSEC victims are mostly streetwalkers and often have other jobs, including car-washing, parking and vending and thus escape attention of law enforcers. (The Philippines has an ongoing campaign against child labor. The government estimates the number of child workers at more than a million. But the DSWD report shows only 25 in 1997, 261 in 1998, 560 in 1999, 350 in 2000 and 412 in 2001.)

LGU efforts

“We acknowledge that pros­titution is a very serious problem and we are trying our best to address the situation,” says Armand Sebastian, spokes­man for Manila City Mayor Lito Atienza. “We understand the frustrations of people as to why we haven’t eradicated this problem, but we’re really doing our best.”

Sebastian says the Western Police District (WPD) and the DSWD have been trying to rescue child prostitutes, especially in the area of the newly rehabilitated Rajah Sulaiman Park.

There have been some imp­rovements but Sebastian admits some pimps continue to fearlessly pursue the trade.

Atienza’s spokesman says giving local government officials power over the police could help ease the problem of child prostitution. But while acknow­ledging that some police officers act as protectors of pimps and prostitution joints, Sebastian says the main challenge are legal loopholes.

“It is hard to accuse a person of being a pimp, because they can always say they’re only bystanders or just hanging out in the area,” he points out. “The maximum offense if they’re caught is vagrancy and that is very minor.”

The Manila city government and other LGUs have been calling on Congress to amend laws addressing women’s and children’s issues, especially prostitution.

“We’re not accusing Congress of being insensitive about the problem but we need more advocacy from the lawmakers,” Sebastian notes.

Even critics admit that Atienza, who is known for his moral crusade, has done a lot in terms of rehabilitation of streetchildren. But in another part of the country, a politician who ran on a “women’s platform” has just stripped away subsidies to private groups that help victims of sexual abuse.

Bacolod City Mayor Joy Valdez has taken away the P20,000 monthly support for the Capuchin House for Kids, which shelters between 35 to 40 children at any one time. The institute has also lost the four personnel — nurses and medical technologist, a doctor and a woman psychologist — assigned part-time by former mayor Oscar Verdeflor.

Sister Letty, who manages the center, tries to understand Valdez but says the subsidy cut hurts very much, especially at a time of rising cases of sexual abuse against children. The situation is so alarming, she notes, that there are days the center is so crowded it has had to turn away some kids.

DSWD woes

Asked about parents involved in the prostitution of their own offspring, DSWD officials said they do not track down records on cases filed against parents, because these represent “confi­den­tial matters.”

A check with the Department of Justice also revealed the absence of any statistics on this sector.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman was surprised to learn of the absence of parental tracking and said she would immediately order monitoring and follow up cases against abusive parents.

 “We will find ways to come up with a centralized tracking of records on cases filed against parents who lull their children to sell their bodies.  I am going to institute a tracking system where the cases filed against the parents can be followed up syste­matically and speedily,” Soliman told The Manila Times in a telephone interview. “We will dig deeper into this.  The (DSWD) Central Office should be doing that,” she added. 

Soliman said however, that DSWD regional offices have consistently recorded cases of the parents.  “We must ensure that the rehabilitation is being undertaken and the parents are persecuted,” Soliman stressed.

Soliman said the DSWD has allotted P2.2-billion budget for 2002. However, the proposed budget for 2003 was trimmed to P2.1 billion. A huge chunk of the department’s budget, roughly between P30 million  to P40 million annually, has been allocated for its “Social Protection and Custodial Care Program.”

Rowena Guanzon, a legal counsel for abused children, points out the government’s protective services for children are not effective enough. She also bewails the “insufficient budget” allotted for the DSWD.

“It’s not that social workers don’t try because they work very, very hard for the child victims,” she notes. “They really just face very formidable obstacles.”

Guanzon advocates “stronger powers” for social workers are on the frontlines of rescue efforts.

Aside from RA 7610, there is a number of pending legislative bills that will further strengthen the country’s commitment to combat child exploitation, including CSEC.   These include: 

• Imposing death penalty on perpetrators of child prostitution, sexual abuse of children and child trafficking

• Protecting Filipinos from obscene and indecent materials transmitted through computers

• Providing for the organi­zation and management of barangay councils for the protec­tion of children

Guanzon says RA 7610 is substantive enough in the sense it covers all provisions to protect the child rights in all circumstances where they are aggrieved. There is no more need for additional special laws, just amendments to the existing ones.

The lawyer says penalties for bar owners engaged in pros­titution — and their customers should be stiffer. 

“You hit them where it hurts the most,” says the lawyer. She also wants the law to stipulate permanent closure of any establishment engaged in prostitution. (While the DSWD now has the power to put “off limits” signs outside the establishment for at least a year, many local executives override this by issuing permits to operate.)

Just the employment of minors in bars, even without proof of prostitution, should be harshly penalized, adds the lawyer. Many bar owners blame minors for falsifying their ages but Guanzon says the onus of checking likes with the establishment operators.

Legal provisions

Article III, Section 5 of RA 7610 defines child prostitution as “children, whether male or female, who for money, profit, or any other consideration or due to the coercion or influence of any adult, syndicate or group, indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct.”

The law carries the penalty of reclusion temporal (from 12 years and one day to 20 years of imprisonment) in its medium period to reclusion perpetua (life imprisonment for 40 years) on the promotion, facilitation and inducement of child prostitution.

The law covers the following activities:

• Acting as a procurer of a child prostitute

• Inducing a person to be a client of a child prostitute by means of written or oral advertisements or other similar means

• Taking advantage of influ­ence or relationship to procure a child as a prostitute

• Threatening or using violence towards a child to engage him as a prostitute

• Giving monetary considera­tion, goods or other pecuniary benefit to a child with the intent to engage such child in pros­titution.

The penalty also applies, among others, to those who derive profit or advantage from prostitution, whether as mana­ger or owner of the establish­ment where the prostitution takes place, or of the sauna, disco, bar, resort, place of entertainment or establishment serving as a cover for or which engages in prostitution, in addition to the activity for which the license has been issued to establishment.

The law bans adults from accompanying a minor (12 years or under or who is 10 years or more his junior) in any public or private place, hotel, motel, beer joint, discotheque, cabaret, pension house, sauna or massage parlor, beach and/or other tourist resort or similar places, and imposes the penalty of prision mayor (six years of imprison­ment) in its maximum period and a fine of not less than P50,000. This provision, however, does not apply to any person who is related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity or any bond recognized by law, local custom and tradition, or acts in the performance of a social, moral or legal duty.

Guanzon says this provision can be a powerful tool if enforced aggressively, but it is seldom cited by law enforcers.

Amendments urged

The lawyer wants to see Section 10 of RA 7610 amended.

The existing provision notes that liability “does not apply to any person who is relayed within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, or any bond recognized by law, local customs and tradi­tions, or acts in the performance of a social, moral or legal duty.”

This provision should be deleted, according to Guanzon.

“It gives relatives or family friends of the child, for example, godparents, a way out of the presumption that he or she is prostituting the child,” she notes. “Many relatives, even parents, of children prostitute them.”

Section 6 bans an adult who is “not a relative” from accompan­ying a child in a room of a house, inn, hotel, motel, vessels, vehicles or secluded areas under circumstances that could lead to exploitation and sexual abuse.

Guanzon points out that “not a relative” is not defined in the law.

“Relative is limited to relative by consanguinity up for first cousin only,” the lawyer says. “In our culture, the word “relative” covers members of the extended family, even if they are not related by blood to the child.”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3