Just an Ordinary 8th of March

Friday, March 09, 2007 | 12:00 AM

When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development. That's the International Women's Day. That's what this day is supposed to be, here in the Philippines.

There have been 5,000 Filipina mail order brides entering the United States every year since 1986, a total of 105,000 as of 2007. There are 20,000 Filipina mail order brides in Australia as of 1997.

150,000 Filipina women have been trafficked into prostitution in Japan, according to the Daily Star, July 2, 1998. 150 Filipinas were sold into prostitution to night club operators in African countries, particularly Nigeria. The women were bought for $5,000 each by international syndicates. Four Filipinas were rescued by the Philippine Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria after they sought help from officials. (Manila Chronicle, May 31 1995)

In 1991, Filipinas were often sold to Japan, often to the Yakuza, at $2,400 to $18,000 each.

In 1996, 492 of 3,776 reported cases of child abuse involved pornography, prostitution, paedophilia and trafficking. There were 8,335 cases of child abuse from 1991-1996, 96% of the victims were females. (Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 26 1997)

There are 400,000 women in prostitution in 1998, excluding unregistered, seasonal prostitutes, overseas entertainers and victims of external trafficking. One fourth of them are children and each year 3,266 more children are forced into the sex industry. (GABRIELA, an NGO that seeks to transform women into an organized political force.)

Something is terribly wrong with our country. It's already 2007, and imagine how much that number has grown.

Let me give you an idea of how small 400,000 is.

• António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has described the situation in Sudan and Chad as “the largest and most complex humanitarian problem on the globe.” At least 400,000 people have been killed; the Sudanese government’s regular armed forces and the Janjaweed – largely composed of fighters of Arab nomadic background – have targeted civilian populations and ethnic groups just to remove support from the rebels in their country.


• It took that same number of people to land Apollo 11 to the moon.


• Malta, the most densely populated country in the EU and one of the most densely populated countries in the world, has a population of 400,000 people in 2006.


• Although only 11,000 cases are confirmed, China has an estimated 400,000 people with HIV.

According to an article in April 1998, a Philippine Adventure Tour costs $1,645, including round trip airfare, hotel accommodations and guided tours to the bars where men purchase sex from prostitutes for as little as US $24. Tour owner and operator Allan Gaynor promises that customers "never sleep alone on this tour" and recommends that the customer have sex with a different girl every day, "two if you can handle it." Whether or not by choice, men on sex tours inevitably buy underage girls.

Sharon, a 13-year-old girl was kidnapped and sold as a virgin for US$30. In a brothel, she was raped by 8 to 15 men every night, even when she had her menstrual period or was running a fever, and by the time she escaped with a customer's help in February 1997, she had 'serviced' more than 1,500 men.

And what is the local government doing about it?

Tell me, do you still have enough reason to celebrate this day for?

Labels: Society

Back to Top

This entry was posted on Friday, March 09, 2007 at 12:00 AM. There are . If you want, you can leave your own response by clicking the link below. We'd appreciate it a lot. You may also send this post to a friend, email your reactions to the author, and do some other stuff. Just choose one of the options below.