Filipinas For Sale

I borrowed the title of the forum I, and thirteen of my colleagues, attended on 15 October 2008, at the Seminar Hall right in the centre of Quezon Memorial Circle. The place is a stone's throw away from the office.

So what was the forum all about? It's about the sad plight of women recruited as overseas workers, when in fact they do not go abroad for employment but for prostitution. Sponsored by women's rights advocate, Gabriela, the forum actually had for its speakers two Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who have experienced this different, but sick, kind of recruitment. It was timely, really, my attendance at the said forum as the day before, a client came and narrated exactly the same circumstances of recruitment and what actually happens once the recruit goes abroad. Under the pretext of being hired as an entertainer, these Filipinas are actually being pimped, in the truest sense of the word. What's sadder is the fact that the recruiting is done by fellow Filipinas. But the saddest, I think, is the fact that the recruiters ask the recruits to shell out big sums of money to allegedly facilitate their employment. With promises of a greener pastures and the chance to alleviate their families from poverty, these poor recruits go to great lengths to come up with the desired sum, even agreeing to loans with outrageously usurious interests.

Once they reach their destination, the girls are housed in an apartment which turns out to be a brothel. And there, they are up for grabs; mind you, no protection, sexually or otherwise.

During the entire forum, I did the easiest thing that could be done: listen and sympathize. I haven't yet picked a placard and lobbied at every government agency. I haven't yet sent the pledge card of the Purple Rose Campaign. It's probably next to impossible that I join Gabriela. But I am aware of sex trafficking; and I try to do whatever I can to help, albeit within the confines of my own world. I sincerely hope that by blogging this, more people are made aware of this biting reality, and do what I couldn't - take an active part in helping trafficked women and children.

Please visit the Gabriela site and help in whatever activities they come up with for the protection of women and children.

P.S. For more pictures on the forum, click here.