Child prostitutes overwhelm RP

Child prostitutes overwhelm RP

MANILA (AFP): Teenagers Myrna and Raquel were among 200 young girls arrested last week in a huge police operation in Manila ordered by President Fidel Ramos in an attempt to stamp out child prostitution in the Philippines.

Since their arrest, the two 14-year-olds and 15 others caught in the raid have been held at the Marilac government social center, 30 kilometers south of the Philippine capital, where they are receiving medical care.

Two of the child prostitutes, most of whom were working at a large Manila nightclub called the Cabaret International, have already tried to escape. Another attempted suicide.

Marilac operates at full capacity with 166 girls between the ages of 9 and 17 housed in six barrack buildings, all with barred windows. An adjoining center for adult prostitutes is less than half full.

This disproportion is indicative of the evil that is eating away at the Philippines. The number of child prostitutes in the country has soared from 20,000 in 1986 to more than 60,000 today, one of the highest numbers in Asia, according to a study released in Manila in mid-August.

The Filipino and foreign nightclub and bar managers, who employ as many as 200 girls in a single enterprise, are rarely prosecuted because neither the children nor their parents dare complain for fear of reprisals.

Jocelyne, 13, and her friend, Joy, 17, also center residents, both worked at the Golden Star, a night club near Manila, but have refused to denounce their former boss who threatened to beat them up if they refused clients.

Jocelyne got 30 pesos (US$1.20) from each client while her boss got 3,000 pesos.

Last year, a well-dressed Filipino came to see Jocelyne's unemployed parents in Samar, one of the country's poorest provinces, to offer their daughter a "waitressing" job in Manila.

For several months, Jocelyne's parents received 1,000 pesos a month from their daughter until she was caught in the police raids ordered by Ramos. The Golden Star was briefly closed, then reopened as the Rainbow.

Ramos told the press last week that he would recommend that parliament approve a death sentence for acts of pedophilia.

"Many of those children who come here do not even know their name, and we advertise them in the newspapers and on television to look for their family," said Nellie Culong, 36, who leads the five social workers assigned to Marilac.

The center, financed by government and by private donations, has two live-in doctors and a dentist, Culong said.

"What we absolutely need is a psychiatrist," she said, adding that the center's request has not yet been answered.

After six months or a year of rehabilitation and academic, domestic and artistic courses, the children are either returned to their parents or sent to foster families.

But the same faces frequently reappear at the center, said Culong. Some find it easier to return to the cabarets and nightclubs where they know they will at least find food and lodging.

"At least half of our girls go back to their misery," said Culong who nevertheless judges this percentage "relatively encouraging."