BY RAYMART ESCOPEL
ILOILO City – For poor young women, cybersex is a way out of poverty. It makes easy money.
Such is the case of the four young women arrested in a cybersex den in Barangay Sinikway, Lapuz district on Thursday.
The youngest was 16 years old, according to the Regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (RCIDU) that staged the operation.
She agreed to perform lewd acts before foreign clients via the Internet because she wanted to finish her studies, according to social worker Ann Rapunzel Endencia of the Iloilo City Social Welfare and Development Office’s (CSWDO) Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU).
The RCIDU turned over the minor to the CIU yesterday for protective custody.
She is currently studying in a computer college here, the minor told Endencia.
From what she had gathered, Endencia said the minor came from a broken family. Her mother is working in Saudi Arabia while her father is currently residing in Dumarao, Capiz.
She has two other siblings – a 14-year-old brother and a seven-year-old sister who is in their father’s care.
“Her parents do not have enough money for her studies and to support her siblings, thus she was forced to work being the eldest of the three children in the family,” Endencia said.
When policemen raided the cybersex den, the minor was caught cavorting in front of a laptop. She was only wearing a bra and a panty.
According to Endencia, the minor is a beneficiary of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
The 4Ps is a conditional cash transfer program that aims to eradicate extreme poverty by investing in heath and education.
The minor and the three other women arrested were all residents of a far-flung village in Tapaz, Capiz.
One is a 23-year-old single parent, said Merlyn Gison, CSWDO officer-in-charge.
Cybersex gave her money to support her child, she told Gison.
“In the social work perspective, they are all victims of poverty, especially the minor,” said Gison.
Through Family Development Sessions under the 4Ps program, Gison said, they hope to combat the trafficking most especially of women and children.
Cybersex is considered a form of human trafficking.
CSWDO is also closely coordinating with the city government’s task force on Internet and Gaming Center, Anti-Piracy and Pornography (IGCAPP), said Gison.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Western Visayas said the operator of the cybersex den in Barangay Sinikway could be held liable for violating women’s rights and several other laws.
According to Atty. Jonnie Dabuco, attorney V of CHR Region 6, the other charges could be for violation of Republic Act 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act) and the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996, because one of the cybersex performers was a minor./PN
