Child prostitution is a problem in the Philippines. By some estimates over , children work as prostitutes in the Philippines. Many local men who use child prostitutes are under the assumption that their young age will make them less likely to be carrying the AIDS virus but the truth is in some cases they are more likely to have it, because their soft tissue is more likely to bleed and thus pick up sexually transmitted diseases.
While much attention has been focused on pedophiles who come from the United States, Germany, Australia and Japan to Thailand and the Philippines to have sex with children, including young boys, most of the clients for child prostitutes are not foreigners. A policeman dressed in a bee costume at a children's birthday party arrested the father of the boy having the party for rape.
Few children enter the prostitution trade on their own free will. Some are runaways or victims of abuse. Other are sold by their parents, who are enticed by gifts such as electric fans or a television. Some are street children who do it to survive. They are often freelancers who have no regular place to live and operate on the streets rather than at a brothel or bar. The Reverend Shay Cullen, a Irish Catholic priest in Olongapo, who has devoted his life to helping victims of child prostitution, told the New York Times, "These children, 95 percent of them are poor.
They live in slummy areas. They've been abused in the homeβyou only find that out later, thoughβabused by a neighbor. They run away from home with a friend.
They're on the street, looking for a job. And a pimp recruiter finds them. They come from other provinces The girls are usually lured into the trade believing that they can find a decent job in the city. When they realize it is difficult for them to escape the convince themselves that what they are doing is only a job.
