A man shows photos of sex workers in Manila. Photo by Rob Reyes. Marie is expecting to have a baby in February next year. Every evening, Marie and her year old lesbian partner, Lea, roam the streets of the city to look for clients. Marie became a sex worker at the age of 14 after years of abuse at the hands of her brother-in-law. Lea, meanwhile, was forced into the sex industry after she was pimped by other child sex workers. The girls are emblematic of an alarming problem in this southern Philippine city and urban areas across the country: the prevalence of children in prostitution.
Data from Lawig Bubai, a grassroots organization of prostituted women and children, shows that some 4, women and children are prostitutes in Davao City alone. In this November photo, women wait for customers in the thriving red light district of Angeles City, north of Manila. Ampog, however, says the government needs to come up with programs to help women and child prostitutes.
She says the government should address the cause of the exodus of women and children into prostitution instead of trying to legalize prostitution to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The city government has been trying to help child prostitutes go to school and give jobs to prostitutes who are willing to start a new life.
Father Shay Cullen, who heads the Preda Foundation, a nongovernmental organization that helps child prostitutes, said women and children in prostitution should not be blamed for their fate. The Columban priest and ucanews. Pinatubo All Rights Reserved. Preda Deutsch Website. Preda Foundation, Inc. Defenders of Children's Rights. Home News Preda News Fr.
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