Belgian Journalist “Peter Bridge,” whose real name has been hidden in order to protect his identity, has exposed the shocking truth behind cyber-sex dens in the Philippines.
The thought that there is an underground sex trade is scary
The recent capture of Peter Scully in the Philippines has just shown how widespread the illegal cyber-sex industry in the Philippines is.
It’s scary to think that right under our noses is an illegal sex trade that thrives on victimizing young children, robbing them of their innocence and youth.
“The girls are forced to smile while they were being abused”
According to Bridge, who went undercover as a pedophile, the young girls were forced to line up in front of a webcam, as the pedophiles pick who they want to see abused.
He adds that some of the more desperate pedophiles actually go to the Philippines in order to carry out the disturbing sex acts on the girls in person. Bridge recounts that the predators pay anywhere from about 400 to 2000 pesos for the girls. The children are then paid about 200 pesos.
For the girls who are watched by pedophiles online through a webcam, they’re forced to smile as they’re being abused, and all the while, the pedophiles are telling the abusers what to do to the poor girls.
Peter Bridge initially started investigating the cyber-sex dens in the Philippines 2 years ago. His investigations became part of a documentary entitled “Children of the Cam.”
Bridge shares that he gained the trust of the people handling the operation by posing as a pedophile, and eventually was invited into the sex dens. With assistance from the Women and Children Protection Centre of the Philippine National Police, as well as the US NGO the International Justice Mission, he was eventually able to piece together the harsh and disgusting reality of underage cyber-sex dens in the country.
“They gave me a selection of girls to choose from”
He first went to a den in Iligan City, where he met a lot of underage girls who were involved in the sex trade. He shares, “They gave me a selection of girls to choose from, between the ages of 11 and 17. I could choose any girls I wanted. I told them I was interested in having six girls, two every night – 15 and 17, 11, 13 and then younger. They agreed.”
After which, he took the girls to his hotel room, where he interviewed them for hours about the horrors that they’ve experienced in the sex den. He found that girls who were as young as 12 were recruiting their friends. Simply by being in contact with these predators, the underage girls are sadly starting to become abusers themselves.
He adds, “Doing this sort of work is traumatising. But for these girls it’s just normal. They have been raised in a sea of abuse. And they don’t know that it is abuse anymore.”
The Philippines is number 1 in ‘webcam child sex tourism’
According to Bridge, the Philippines is the number 1 source for this type of service, which he calls ‘webcam child sex tourism.’
He said that girls who come from poor families are often forced to perform cyber-sex for money, while some poor families actively push their children towards this type of trade just so they could earn some money. They’re willing to give up their children for sex, just so they can have money to spend on their daily needs. That’s how desperate the situation is for some people.
According to the Interpol and FBI, there are about 750,000 pedophiles watching child pornography at any given time. Last year, 139 people from the UK were being investigated for watching child pornography online.
Thankfully, the police raided the sex den in Iligan and rescued 11 girls who were involved in the trade. However, it’s still very difficult to prosecute the suspects as well as the people who pay for this kind of service as according to Bridge, “the problem is huge, and under reported.”
It’s also hard for law enforcement to find the suspects as it’s not easy to find people who are watching or live streaming child pornography.
In spite of these struggles, Bridge says that he will not back down until he has exposed the pedophiles as well as the predators who are preying on these young children.
Source: metro.co.uk
READ: Pedophile caught by vigilante group after he thought he was meeting a 13-year-old
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