sexandsensibilities.com

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When Sally [not her real name] was offered a chance to work in Singapore as a waitress by her sister-in-law, she was readily took up the opportunity. The then 18 year old was working as a housemaid in Manila earning about Php 2,500 a month. She welcomed the idea of being about to earn more money to help out her family.

Sally, now 23, talks about the harrowing experience of being deceived by her sister in law and hiding from her estranged family for the last 3 years.

“My sister in law had been coming back and forth from Singapore for the last couple of years and was making a good living so I thought it would be fine.  I first sensed something was wrong when I saw my visa was a tourist one valid only for a few days. My sister in law said it was normal to do that and we would just extend the visa in Singapore.

I was surprised to find that once we got to Singapore, my first stop was a bar.  The manager’s only question was if I drank a lot. I had never had an alcoholic beverage in my life. This angered the bar owner who said that I could not work there because I would never make a lot of money or sit with customers for very long.

My sister in law was very mad at me. She insisted that I knew what I was getting myself into and that we had talked about “this” in Manila. I was still confused about what she meant by “this”, but I swore to her that I thought I would be working in a restaurant as a waitress, not in a bar where drinking was necessary. She wouldn’t hear of it and called me names like “stupid” and “bobo”.

Her boyfriend, who is a pilot of a commercial airline came up with a solution. He told her that they could offer me to one of his colleagues who was also a pilot. His colleague was old, unmarried and would be interested.

We went to his apartment and I overhead them negotiating for USD 2,000 because I was a virgin.

I finally realized what was going on.

I begged and pleaded with my sister in law not to leave alone with the big white man. I was again subjected to a barrage of insults about how I was wasting an opportunity and how stupid I was. My sister in law told me that when I got a boyfriend for myself, I would give it up anyway. I might as well do it now and even get paid for it.

I was scared.  I had never been out of the country and here I was in a foreign country where the only person I knew was trying to sell me.  At first, I gave in and said I would try.

But when my sister in law and her boyfriend prepared to leave, I was overwhelmed with fear. I didn’t know what the man was going to do to me. I thought he was going to kill me.

I really put up a fight by just crying in a corner and refusing to go anywhere. My sister in law was even more furious, but in the end, they didn’t force me. 

My sister in law told me that she had no use for me and would just send me back to the Philippines. She threatened to stop supporting my sister and her children if I told them what happened.

I was immediately brought back to the airport the next day. Actually, I was dropped off at the corner near the airport with Php500 in my pocket. I had no idea where to go. Good thing I found another Filipina and asked her for directions. She was also going to the airport so she guided me.

In the Philippines, my sister also told me that I was stupid for wasting this opportunity. She was furious that because of me, she lost face with the family of her husband. I endured all of this and just stayed quiet.

I was forced to work as waitress in a canteen my sister in law owned earning P1,700 a month. But I never saw any of this money. The money was collected by the manager, who was also a relative, to pay back for my airfare and other expenses incurred in Singapore.

I was finally able to get away, and found a shelter for women.  I have been hiding for the last 2 years. I am now part of a group called Bagong Kamalayaan Collective, Inc (BKCI) a group of women who have survived trafficking.  Being with women who know what I have been through has been healing.

With the help of Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW-AP), BKCI is getting ready to put up a bakery cooperative for its members.

Now I work during the day and am studying Psychology at night in an all-girl’s university. I hope to give back by using my degree to counsel other women who have gone through a similar experience.  On weekends, I take baking lessons in preparation for the opening of our bakery.

My sister in law insisted that I was being weak and stupid for not taking advantage of the “opportunity” she presented to me. I now know that refusing to be sold off and standing my ground was the braver and smarter thing to do.”

Human trafficking is a global problem. The United Nations estimates that 12.3 million individuals live in forced labor worldwide, and about 70 percent of them are women or girls trafficked into sex slavery. Human trafficking is the world’s third largest black market industry after weapons and drugs.  The number of trafficked individuals outside and within the Philippines is in the hundreds of thousands.

It is usual for traffickers to be friends, neighbors or family members. Says Kip Oebanda, Development Specialist of Visayan Forum Foundation (VFF), an NGO that provides shelter for trafficking victims, “The trafficker’s commodity is really trust. That’s what they are selling. For someone to uproot themselves and go off to a far away land, you have to trust them.”

Trafficking can be stopped even if the trafficked persons are in transit. They can be seen in airports, seaports, the RO-RO (roll-on, roll-off transport system). Traffickers and their victims usually do not to talk to anyone, are usually in groups and don’t know where they are going. Children and teens are told to pretend like adults when they are clearly not.

Report suspected trafficking cases to the Philippine Ports Authority, the Coast Guard or to the Visayan Forum hotlines (632)709-0711 / (632)709-0573.

•  Log onto www.catw-ap.org for more information about trafficking.
• Photos courtesy of Mitch Maurico