SEX workers now solicit customers through online messaging apps, shying away from the traditional street prostitution, an advocate revealed.
Talikala-Davao executive director Jeanette Ampong said gone were the days that prostitute women do street prostitution with the advancement of social media.
"Naa na'y online shopping sa kababainhan nga ginabaligya online. Online na ang transaction karon wherein didtoa nalang ibutang kung asa'ng room through PM (There has been like an online shopping wherein women are being sold online. Also, transactions are now made through online. They could just private message the room number where they will be having their sexual activity)," Ampong said Friday, October 4, during the Kapihan sa PIA press conference.
She said Talikala, a non-government organization that helps prostituted women and children, also identified that most prostitutes conduct their transaction through Facebook Messenger, which is a more convenient way to have transactions with clients.
Ampong said there is an existing Facebook group page for "walkers" or "call girls" within the city, adding that Talikala had already reported it to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Davao.
"With social media, mas lisod na karon i-track namo ang mga bata ug babae nga naa sa prostitusyon since ginagamit na ang online in terms of transaction (With social media, it is hard for us to track women and children involved in prostitution since transactions are now made through online)," she said.
She also said more women, including young adults, who are involved in online pornography, are able to "freely" sell online nude and sexual contents in exchange of cash.
Meanwhile, she said that during Talikala's session about prostitution in a senior high school class last week, 17 out of the 40 female students revealed they were financially solicited by strangers through online to have sexual intercourse.
Ampong said harassments on children become more rampant with the existing online platform, despite existing laws that protect children.
Children and women's rights against prostitution is covered in the Section 4 of Republic Act (RA) 9208 or Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, as amended by RA 10364, RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012), and the RA 9775 (Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009).
She said there is no need to amend these laws, adding that they only need stricter implementation.
Ampong said Talikala is currently helping 219 people, majority of which are children. The youngest is 12 years old, while the oldest is 73.
Meanwhile, the City of Davao will observe the No Prostitution Day, a local version of the International Day of No Prostitution Project in 2002.
The observance was signed in 2005 by then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who declared October 5 of every year as "a day of no prostitution in Davao City."
Ampong said the event includes no pornography, phone sex, cybersex, mail order bride services, escort services, trafficking, stripping, sex tours and prostitution occurring in massage parlors, on the streets, in hotels or everywhere else.