In exchange for trash

CHEERS TO Under Special Investigation (USI) of TV5 for its January 22 episode on female prostitutes living in a dumpsite and who accept trash from garbage collectors as payment for sex. In turn, the prostitutes sell whatever trash is recyclable to feed their families.

USI also interviewed the executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)-Asia Pacific who said that “sometimes, their families are the ones who push them (the women) to sell their bodies.” CATW is a non-government organization that promotes women’s human rights.

The episode shows how poverty has pushed people to do the most desperate things, and how the government has failed to deliver on its promise to eradicate poverty.

USI also reported that an anti-prostitution bill has not been prioritized although it has been in Congress for eleven years.