Danica, who became a sex worker at 12 years old, recalls her ordeal and how she began a new life. Danica is just one of the thousands of child victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Philippines. MANILA, Philippines — Danica, not her real name, is just one of the 60, to , child victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation nationwide.
She did not plan on becoming a sex worker at the age of She, just like any girl, had a dream. While poverty is one of the factors why children her age are forced to work in the sex industry, there are other reasons. I was being passed on [from one household to another] so I ran away," said Danica. With no food to eat and no place to stay in, she went to bars in Cagayan de Oro and gave in to her friends' nudging.
Cagayan de Oro is one of the 3 provinces in Northern Mindanao with a high incidence of trafficking. Of the cases recorded, involved children.
READ: Sex at the drop of a tweet or a like. I felt dirty during that night. I felt dirty in the next months and years that I had to do that but when I started to pay for my apartment and buy good food, I could no longer stop," she admitted. Her vulnerability was continuously taken advantage of by pimps. Every night, she would receive a text message from her handler, someone she only knew by an alias. She would get at least P2, to P3, every time.
To ease her guilt, she turned to drugs and solvent. Fast forward to — Danica is now 16 and has just given birth to a girl. I was already planning on quitting even before it happened, thanks to the pati ence of the volunteers of Tisaka," she said. Danica shows text messages she received from her handler.
