DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Cause-oriented groups in the city alarmed the public, especially parents and guardians, over the rise in online prostitution which victimizes minors and young women.
Talikala, Inc. and Lawig Bubai revealed the estimated 4,000 individuals who are involved in different kinds of prostitution could increase as those in the industry are now “maximizing the internet to negotiate and encourage customers.”
“The problem with this kind of activity is that we don’t have regulation especially in the matter of age with most victims are young children,” Jeanette Ampog. Executive Director of Talikala, said.
Online prostitution in Davao City, based on the groups’ monitoring, has a different transaction style which targets young women below 30 years old. Some were new to the industry who do not want to be identified or high school girls who were victimized by unknown individuals using social media site “Messenger”.
“They use these sites to transact customers or victimize young girls by offering them an amount of money,” Ampog shared.
According to Talikala, online prostitution costs a minimum of P1,500 per transaction, higher compared to other types of prostitution in the city.
Advise to guardians, parents
Talikala also advised the parents to monitor their children while using their phones as certain mobile applications are prone to online prostitution and other sexual offenses.
“Parents should be careful in giving their children smartphones. Nowadays we don’t know what sites are our children are opening or signing in,” Ampog warned.
From street prostitution, pimps maximized the social media like dating websites and online forums to recruit young girls by promising them opportunities or by earning money easily. They would usually ask their victims to send photos or would send their target victims nude photos and private parts of a person.
Ampog said many online apps that are free to download were used by pimps to persuade young girls to enter prostitution. These mobile apps facilitate the concealment, anonymity, and discretion of the user as well as their illegal activities. (davaotoday.com)
