Battling the Pedophiles; A Presidential Crackdown on Violators of the Young
Originally published in Asiaweek, August 25, 1995
PHILIPPINES — Marlon, 12, started his life in Manila as an urchin. He roamed the streets and parks begging. One day, a man befriended Marlon (not his real name) and gave him food and shelter. He taught the boy to sniff paint thinner and photographed him in the nude. Soon he was sending Marlon to five-star hotels where he was sexually abused by foreign tourists. For each encounter he received gifts and some $20. Most of the money went to the pimp.
There are an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 Marlons in the Philippines. Metro-Manila has some 60,000 street children either involved in prostitution or in danger of falling prey. Angeles City and Olongapo, near the former U.S. bases, teem with "funhouses" and massage parlors rivaling those in Bangkok's Patpong red-light district.
Last week the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation launched the country's biggest crackdown on child prostitution. The NBI raided 23 suspected centers in suburban Quezon City, Pasay and Caloocan. It rounded up 684 people, including 204 believed to be prostitutes under 18.
President Fidel Ramos ordered the crackdown after an Aug. 1 cabinet briefing on the social scourge. "He didn't like what he heard," recounts a cabinet secretary, and promptly formed a high-powered body to investigate and go after the guilty. As many as nine cabinet departments are involved, including justice, social welfare, tourism, labor, foreign affairs and immigration.
Child prostitution has been rising steadily over the past few years. Last year the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) recorded 1,586 cases of child exploitation and abuse—more than double the number in 1993. Of these, 83 cases involved prostitution and 108 pedophilia, any sexual activity of adults with minors. From January to June, cases of pedophilia and child prostitution reached a record 263. "This is a national shame," says DSWD chief Lina Laigo, who blames poverty, tourism and deteriorating values. "Some parents sell their children to pimps for 1,000 to 2,000 pesos ($38 to $77)."
Authorities say the customers of child prostitutes are mainly European, Australian and Japanese tourists. In June, police arrested a 49-year-old Briton, Michael Clarke, on preliminary charges of soliciting a child prostitute. Police closed in on him when a sex tour he allegedly organized in Olongapo was featured in a foreign TV broadcast. He could face up to 20 years in prison and is not entitled to bail.
A 1992 law stipulates that anyone found in suspicious circumstances with a child who is not a relative can be charged with attempting to indulge in child prostitution. The law also deems sexual molestation of children under 12 as rape. Offenders face up to 14 years in prison. Pedophiles who have sexual intercourse with pre-adolescents—with or without their consent—face charges of statutory rape under another law. The maximum penalty: death.
Foreign governments are chipping in with legislation of their own. A recent Australian measure punishes Australians for pedophilia committed abroad. In June a similar law in Sweden jailed a Swede, Bengt Bolin, for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in Thailand. Bolin, 69, was sentenced to a mere three months in prison. But Thai prosecutor Wanchai Poujanavong, who hounded Bolin for a year, was satisfied to send a warning to foreign pedophiles.
Philippine authorities are prosecuting a 57-year-old Frenchman on charges of sexually abusing two boys aged 9 and 12. DSWD officials say he befriended the older boy and gave money to his family, who later found out about the abuse. The Frenchman met the other boy—a street child—through a pimp. An Australian sailor is on trial in Olongapo for having sex with two 13-year-old girls. A verdict is reportedly due next month.
Authorities hope that the stringent laws will deter pedophilia. "Travel agencies promote it as a tourist come-on," says Lourdes Balanon, director of the DSWD's Bureau of Child and Youth Welfare. Gay magazines in Europe, Australia and Japan carry photographs of Filipino boys in the nude or performing sexual acts. Each picture has the name of a person who can be contacted to hire child prostitutes.
"If a Caucasian between 40 and 60 is seen with little boys or girls, that is almost [a sure indication] that he's a pedophile," says Eduardo Pilapil, the new tourism secretary. He has threatened to cancel the licenses of hotels and restaurants involved in pedophilia. Since 1984, authorities have arrested 95 foreigners suspected of the crime. Sixty-two have been deported and 27 are awaiting prosecution or investigation. But "we have had very few convictions," says DSWD Secretary Laigo. "The law is not very clear on how to treat foreigners." Many leave before they can be arraigned.
To better prosecute offenders, Justice Secretary Teofisto Guingona has ordered all deportations of pedophiles stopped. Still, controlling child prostitution crucially depends on alleviating the poverty that breeds it.
