Philippines January 2024 – Case Study

Over the last five years, our founder, Angela Francis, has visited Thailand and the Philippines multiple times of  to deepen her knowledge and understanding of the issue of child sexual exploitation in Southeast Asia. It also provided an opportunity to identify and share best practice, as well as exchange information and ideas with other charities. This collaboration continues today.

Here, Angela shares her insights from her trip to the Philippines in January 2024.

Executive Summary

In January 2024, Angela travelled to Philippines to deepen her knowledge and understanding of the issue of child sexual exploitation there. Some children who had been sexually trafficked by their families,  escape by living on the streets. This puts them in a very vulnerable position, and they are often  picked up by paedophile rings, mafia or gangs and prostituted out.

Context

The Philippines is considered  the epicentre for online child sexual exploitation.

The Philippines is located in Southeast Asia. The capital and the largest city is Manila. The spoken language is Filipino. The population of the Philippines is 117 million people. The government of the day is considered to be corrupt and the willingness to ignore child sexual exploitation was commented on by several people.

From 8 to 17 January 2024, Angela visited the Preda Foundation in Olongapo. The foundation seeks to identify children who are being trafficked for sex, then rescue them, provide accommodation and schooling, and support them in prosecuting the perpetrators. 

The Foundation operates a boys home, girls home and it provides a school outreach education service. Preda help to establish child protection committees, provide definitions of abuse, testimonies from survivors, and provide schools with policies, procedures, and templates for establishing child protection committees. 

In its 50 years of operation, the Preda Foundation have rescued over 5000 children. 

Observations

The young age of children trapped in this illegal activity, for example, one girl in particular shared her story and the name we have given her is ‘Gianne^[1].’ Gianne and her two sisters were staying in the Preda girls home at the time, they were aged six, 12 and 15. The day Angela met ‘Gianne’ she was giving evidence to the police investigator about her and her two sisters being sexually exploited, by their father, relatives, and his friends. She was happy to share her story.

Lessons Learnt

Combatting child sexual exploitation will require a whole systemic approach, but must be led, and supported, by the government of the day. Interfering with an illegal profit margin will take significant effort. 

It is up to the Filipino people to lead the charge against this scourge on their country. 

In summary

In comparison with other countries, The Philippines is considered  the epicentre for online child sexual exploitation.

^[1] Not her real name