Teen prostitution on the rise

Posted on December 16, 2002 - Filed Under News |

PROSTITUTION involving minors is rising in an alarming rate in the province.

This was the observation of the Department of Social Welfare and Development officer in region 1, after 48 suspected minors were rescued Tuesday night here by combined elements of the DSWD, National Bureau of  Investigation and the DoLE from several videoke and entertainment joints in Dagupan City.

Corazon Layug, regional director of DSWD, the lead agency in the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force for the Protection of Minors Employed in the Entertainment Industry, told The PUNCHthat Pangasinan is first in the Ilocos region to have the highest number of minors working as commercial sex  workers.

She attributed this to the fact that Pangasinan has the  biggest land area and the highest population.

Next to Pangasinan  are La Union, Ilocos Norte and  Ilocos Sur.

Layug described the problem involving under-aged women working as  commercial sex workers (CSWs) has become one of the major issues in region that needs to be addressed. Employment of minors now rank second to the sexual abuses of women.

She said the establishment owners, mostly in Dagupan City, were caught unaware and the CSWs are performing their numbers in the  nude before the public.

Those recovered were employed in 21 establishments like karaoke  bars, disco bars, and massage parlors. Most of them came from families which have cycle of abuse like  violence, broken families, absent parents, or parents with many vices, Layug said.

 “This is the most successful operation in the four rescue  attempts made since  January 2002,” Layug said. Last November, they did  the same operation in La Union rescuing 29 commercial sex workers, nine of whom were found to be minors.

Establishment owners with their lawyers have been negotiating  for the victims’ release whom Layug said were not detained but were placed under the protective custody of the DSWD office here. The DSWD said it will file appropriate charges against the owners and operators who  employed and exploited the minors.

Most of the victims are from Metro Manila and Region 3.

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