May 28, 2004 – (AVIVA) A report by Judge Nimfa Cuesta Vilches suggests that female children face discrimination early in life from being denied their nutritional needs to lack of opportunities for education. These gender biases are difficult to combat since they are compounded by problems of extreme poverty, globalisation, aggressive tourism campaigns, negative portrayals of women by mass media, online pornography and chat-rooms, the practice of 'mail-order' brides, inter-country adoption and joint military exercises in the country with visiting forces from abroad. Combined with porous borders and the export of workers, these factors cause women to become easy victims of sex trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation, at home and abroad. 40% of the unemployed are women and in 2000 there were around 600,000 prostitutes out of which 50,000 were children. In the first quarter of 2003, 2,872 Filipino children were sexually abused and exploited. On 26 May 2003, government enacted the Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 to combat trafficking of children and women. This law is a milestone and seeks to eliminate trafficking, establish institutional mechanisms for the protection and support of trafficked persons and provide penalties for violations of the law.

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From: http://www.aviva.org/asia.htm