Red light Districts have led to disaster in the Philippines

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is president of the Philippines is leading the way for the most horrifying violations against human rights. Ever since Macapagal Arroyo cheated to get her presidency, she has been supported by the United States, giving her administration the fourth largest US foreign military aid package in the world—over $400 million. It is estimated that around 5,500 US troops are stationed on the islands. The US first set up its military power in the Philippines during the height of the Vietnam War, instigating a large scale of prostitution. Red light districts sprang up quickly around US military bases and women were destined to entertain as much as 10,000 soldiers daily. According to the article “Philippine Women’s National Day of Protest” by Dorotea Mendoza of the San Francisco Independent Media, in 2002, 12,000 US troops arrived in the Philippines when it was declared the Second Front in the US-led war on terrorism, resulting in sex trafficking of Filipino women and children to increase to 600%. What is even more shocking is that the US still remains the largest importer of mail-order brides from the Philippines. Due to the US involvement with the old Filipino dictatorship (Marcos’ regime) and now US influence on the new Filipino administration, that last year over 700,000 women were reported to have been exported to other countries to work as contract and migrant workers. It is also known that everyday “an average of 10 body bags arrive in the Philippines carrying the remains of Filipinas” (Mendoza). This is just an example of the type of exploitation and oppression of women and children that the GABRIELA Network USA (GABNet USA) works every year to object to such appalling violations of human rights by protesting on Philippine Women’s National Day of Protest. On Octorber 27th of this year, this women’s party marks its 17th year of helping to liberate Filipino women from their dire situations. In the year 2001 there were 4,300 cases of human rights violations, and over “100,000 of those affected were children under the age of 16; 761 activists have been assassinated, 80 of whom were women, most were members or affiliates of GABRIELA national women’s alliance and Gabriela Women’s Party; 46 journalists have been killed” (Mendoza). Clearly there have been more human rights cases since president Arroyo came to power than during the Marcos dictatorship. That is why it is hard to believe that Macapagal Arroyo plans to change the Philippine constitution so that it may allow her to remain in until 2010 and eliminate the existence of Partylists—the only resemblance of a democracy that the Filipino government has left. Partylists mostly consist of different people’s organizations, making up a huge part of the Philippine community. It is crucial that government be held accountable for abandoning to serve people’s interests and consistently subjecting its people to degrading living situations such as red light districts, as well as shipping them to work to their death in foreign countries.

For more information visit http://www.gabnet.org.

--Maddy