Human trafficking and the prostitution of children has been a significant issue in the Philippines, often controlled by organized crime syndicates. Human trafficking is a crime against humanity.

With the Philippines having a large migrant population, men are exploited in fishing, construction, and farming jobs. Whereas, women are exploited in more domestic and caretaker roles. Children are exploited for sex and child labor trafficking.

In an effort to deal with the problem, the Philippines passed R.A. 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, a penal law against human trafficking, sex tourism, sex slavery and child prostitution. In 2006, enforcement was reported to be inconsistent. But by 2017, the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons had placed the country in "Tier 1" (fully compliant with minimum standards of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act).

Statistics An undated United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) document estimated that 60,000 to 100,000 children in the Philippines were involved in prostitution rings as of 2009. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) about 100,000 children were involved in prostitution . There is a high incidence of child prostitution in tourist areas. An undetermined number of children are forced into exploitative labour operations.Factsheet: Child Trafficking in the Philippines (undated), UNICEF ,

As of 2020, the Philippines is ranked as Tier 1 in the Trafficking in Persons Report of the United States (US) State Department after substantial efforts.2020 Trafficking in Persons Report: Philippines , U.S. Department of State.

Problem areas and history A report published in 2004 by the Vatican stated: The Philippines has a serious trafficking problem of women and children illegally recruited into the tourist industry for sexual exploitation. Destinations within the country are Metro Manila, Angeles City, Olongapo City, towns in Bulacan, Batangas, Cebu City, Davao and Cagayan de Oro City and other sex tourist resorts such as Puerto Galera, Pagsanjan, San Fernando Pampanga, and many beach resorts throughout the country. The promise of recruiters offers women and children attractive jobs in the country or abroad, and instead they are coerced and forced and controlled into the sex industry for tourists.Rev. Father Shay Cullen, MSSC, President of the PREDA Foundation, Philippines, People on the Move , N° 96 (Suppl.), December 2004. vatican.va

Puerto Galera There are numerous cases of child molestation that have been reported in Puerto Galera, a beach resort on Mindoro Island three hours south of Manila. The area is a favorite for foreign child molesters seeking children.Universal Jurisdiction Needed to Convict Child Traffickers , September 21, 2005. Puerto Galera was described in 1997 as one of the Philippines top five spots for child prostitution.

Angeles City In 1991 a volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo forced an evacuation and destroyed much of the Clark Air Base, a major United States military facility located 40 miles (60 km) northwest of Manila, which closed shortly thereafter. Most of the sex trade around the base closed at the same time due to the loss of the GI customers. Mayor Alfredo Lim proceeded to crack down on Manila's remaining sex industry, causing many of these businesses to relocate to Angeles City, which borders on the closed base, and was becoming a popular tourist destination especially with former GIs. By the late 1990s, UNICEF estimated that there are 60,000 child prostitutes in the Philippines, describing Angeles City brothels as "notorious" for offering sex with children. In 1997, the BBC reported that UNICEF estimated many of the 200 brothels in the notorious Angeles City offer children for sex.

The current trade is dominated by Australian bar operators and sustained by tourists seeking inexpensive sex. In bars catering mostly to foreign men, girls are sold for a "bar fine". Conditions are sometimes brutal. Children and teenagers are lured into the industry from poor areas by promises of money and care, and are kept there by threats, debt bondage and the fear of poverty. Angeles City is one of the largest sex tourist destinations in the world with just over 15 thousand women working in its various sex establishments (brothels, bars and videokes).Renew Foundation Philippines (archived from the original on October 6, 2008)

In 2005, UNICEF reported evidence of growing child pornography production in Angeles City. Children as young as ten years old have been rescued from brothels in Angeles.

STD cases rose five times. The RHWC treated 1,421 cases in 2005, 2,516 cases in 2006 and 6,229 cases in 2007. Most of the afflicted were women.

Pagsanjan, Laguna CNN stated in 2010 that "A decade ago, Pagsanjan, located about 60 miles south of Manila, became known as a popular location for men seeking homosexual prostitutes." Pagsanjan began to attract an increasing number of child molesters. "In the '80s, Pagsanjan was declared by international gay publications as a paradise for them, a gay paradise, a haven for homosexuals", said Dr. Sonia Zaide, an activist who is particularly concerned by the expansion of the town's sex trade to include minors, mostly young boys. Time magazine reported in 1993 that Pagsanjan was a favorite destination for sex tourists seeking children. The Filipino government began a crackdown on the child sex industry in Pagsanjan and 23 people of varying nationalities were arrested. Foreign child molesters take advantage of the poverty, with children often being used as sexual currency by their own parents. The World Bank World Development Report for 1995 reported that the town of Pagsanjan through civic action had dramatically reduced child prostitution.World Development Report 1995 , The World Bank.

Davao City October 5 has become the Day of No Prostitution Campaign in Davao City. In 2005, the Philippines Information Agency reported documented cases of children as young as 10 years old forced into prostitution in Davao. Davao provinces, along with the Caraga region, have become the favorites of child traffickers posing as tourists.Davao City has 3,000 registered prostituted women Philippine Information Sources, October 11, 2005

Cebu In 2001, it was estimated there were 10,000 young girls trafficked into sex slavery in Cebu. "What has become very obvious is a growing market for child prostitutes," said Father Heinz, a Catholic priest who has been involved for more than a decade in initiatives to beat the pimps and child-traffickers. It was reported in 2009 that Cebu remained a destination, source and transit area for human trafficking, where women and children victims are brought to be "processed". It was reported in 2005 that Cebu had been the destination of international and domestic trafficking of children, aged from 11 to 17 years old.Philippines is 4th in trafficking of children, Ecpat International, February 12, 2005.

Pampanga More than a dozen of cybersex operations have been busted in the Pampanga province and Angeles City areas, this resulted in the rescue of hundreds of exploited women, most of them minors or below 18 years of age. Hundreds of computers sets have been seized, including sex toys and other gadgets used in the cybersex operations mostly maintained by foreigners. A forum hosted by the Prosecution Law Enforcement and Community Coordinating Service (proleccs) discussed several factors that contribute to the human trafficking problem and these include poverty, the proliferation of underground cybersex through internet and sex tourism.

Lucena City Lucena ports have been identified by anti-human trafficking advocates as transit points used by syndicates engaged in the recruitment of innocent women from remote areas destined for prostitution dens in other parts of the country.

Subic Bay In 1988 a Naval Investigative undercover operation based in Subic Bay were offered children for sex as young as four. Many of those involved in the prostitution of children have been brought to justice in the courts. Most of the 16,000 women estimated to have worked the bars around the largest overseas naval base were forced into the sex industry. One 16-year-old child tells of her experience in Subic Bay: "She was locked in a room for a month, starved and force-fed drugs and alcohol to ensure she was addicted and could be more easily controlled. She was often beaten unconscious for refusing to have sex with customers." Pregnancy, abortion, the spread of disease and drug abuse were just some of the indignities imposed on Filipinas. Despite the US pull-out from Subic Bay in 1992, continues to fester, catering to a new generation of civilian sex tourists. The former naval base, and current visits by American military have been the subject of protests by welfare groups and activists in Subic. Brandishing placards and chanting slogans, members of WAIL and GABRIELA called for justice for all victims of human rights abuses.

Olongapo Trafficking of Women and Children in Olongapo was rampant during the time of the Subic Naval Base located close by. In 1988, the US Naval Investigative Service confirmed the existence of child prostitution in Olongapo City. After the base closure a new child molesters clientele from countries such as Australia and Europe moved in. Olongapo special prosecutor Dorentino Z. Floresta states, "Politicians do not want people to know that these things are happening in Olongapo," said Floresta.

Visayas Eastern Visayas continues to be a source of women and children being sent to Metro Manila brothels and sweatshops. Department of Social Welfare and Development officials said the number of human trafficking cases was increasing. Leticia Corillo, DSWD regional director stated that the victims were mostly children and women. Seventy percent are aged from 13 to 17 years old. A DSWD report, said the Waray towns of Paranas and Jiabong and Calbayog City in Samar province and Mapanas and Las Navas in Northern Samar are considered as human trafficking "hotspots".

Trafficking of Filipinas to overseas destinations The US Department of State in July 2001, estimated that about 40,000 Filipino women were trafficked into the sex and entertainment industry in Japan using entertainment visas. A 2007 report by CBC News estimates the number of Filipinas trafficked into Japan for prostitution to be as high as 150,000. Club owners in Japan oblige Filipino entertainers to date their customers during daytime and, in some cases, force them into prostitution. Some of them were sold allegedly to the Yakuza for $2,400 to $18,000. A trafficker earns $3,000–$5,000 for each woman or girl sold in the international sex trade.

Sex tourism An article in the newspaper Davao Today reports that, according to experts, the growth of tourism in the Philippines in places such as Cebu and Boracay, has given rise to the sexual exploitation of women and children. In a 2004 article, the People's Recovery, Empowerment Development Assistance Foundation (PREDA) reported in 2004 that ECPAT, which it describes as "a global network that campaigns against child prostitution", estimates that 300,000 sex tourists from Japan alone visit the Philippines every year. In the same article, PREDA reports, "many others are British." Local NGO Preda states that the majority of the "customers" (the word used by the children to describe their abusers) are local tourists and about ten percent are foreign tourists. The foreign customers, according to arrest figures compiled by ECPAT Manila rank in frequency as follows: American, Japanese, Australian, British, German, Swiss, other nationalities.

UNICEF noted that child trafficking in the Philippines is the highest incidence of child prostitution in a tourist area.

Sex trafficking