Philippine News Digest 39
September 9, 2002 ·
Contents:
- Four girls rescued from sex den
- There is 1 pusher for every 3 barangays
- More children to battle rebels
Four girls rescued from sex den
Four women who were recruited to work as babysitters by a neighbor but ended up as prostitutes in a Quezon City brothel were rescued October 8 by police operatives. Three of the victims are 12-year olds while the other was 14. Police nabbed Nonita Abalajen, 38, and Rowena Monsinde, 22, after the parents of the victims complained of their missing children, who they learned were taken to a safe house. The syndicate provides women to clients who order a prostitute by telephone and pay a feeranging from P1,000 to P3,000. Early this year, elements of the Navotas police also recued some eight women from Occidental Mindoro who were forced to work as guests relations officers in a beer house and prostitution den. Source: Jonathan Mayuga, Today, 9 October 2002.
There is 1 pusher for every 3 barangays
There are more drug sysndicates tha there are members of the House of Representatives, and there is roughly one active drug pusher for every three barangays, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. There is an estimated 11 transnationals and 215 local drug syndicates operating in the country, in contrast to the 214 congressmen. The agency has also listed 15,000 drug pushers operating in 42,000 barangays all over the country. Source: Volt Contreras, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 7 October 2002.
More children to battle rebels
More and more children are being drawn in the war between New People’s Army (NPA) rebels and anti-communist lumad (indigenous people’s) communities in Davao Oriental, Southern Philippines after NPA leaders admitted that they had fielded fresh recruits as young as 16 years old in combat areas. According to some of the tribal leaders, they could no longer bear the atrocities committed by the rebels to their communities. A few years back, they even solicited firearms and support from government officials but the governor declined to give them any saying “it is not their job” to fight rebels and that “they have their own very serious concerns and problems like their displacement from their land.” A high ranking military official also admitted that its military unit based in Sarangani province has requested military training for natives to be incorporated as militia members of the Armed Forces. Source: Ferdinand Zuasola, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1 October 2002.
