HOUSE assistant minority leader Arlene Brosas (PL, Gabriela Women’s Party) yesterday called on the PNP leadership and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the disclosure of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) that personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) accepted sexual services from local sex workers in Manila paid for by Filipino officers.
Brosas, Makabayan senatorial candidate and a life-long advocate of women’s rights, condemned the report as “a glaring manifestation of state-sanctioned exploitation of Filipino women.”
“This is not merely a case of individual misconduct. This is a clear manifestation of the culture of impunity and systematic exploitation of women that continues to pervade our society, enabled by no less than those sworn to protect our people,” Brosas said.
Brosas said a probe should establish if there was any truth to the allegation that law enforcement officials themselves acted as pimps for foreign agents.
“It is outrageous if it’s proven true that our own police officers pimped our women to foreign visitors. Instead of protecting Filipinas from trafficking and prostitution, they were the ones who sold them to be abused by foreigners,” she said.
According to the US DOJ report, FBI agents in Manila accepted prostituted women from local law enforcement officers between 2009 and 2018, but did not specify which law enforcement agency was involved.
Brosas called for a thorough and independent investigation to identify and hold accountable those who were responsible.
“Who were involved, which agencies? These are questions that must be answered. We demand that all perpetrators — both the foreign agents and our local police who facilitated this abuse and exploitation — be held accountable to the fullest extent of our laws,” she said.
Prostitution is illegal in the country even if considered widespread in some regions.
The Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022 (RA No. 11862) penalizes acts of trafficking including prostitution by jail terms of up to 20 years and fines of up to P2 million.
