Heaven hell on earth for Filipino sex slaves
By JOSH VISSER
Ex-cop Stephen Perrott has seen a lot of injustice in his life.
But nothing he saw as a Halifax police officer, not even families homeless and living in their own feces, compared to what he saw in the Philippines. The anger in his voice is raw and immediate.
“The world is not a fair place,” he says.
White western men buy sex from young Filipino prostitutes for little more than the price of a coffee — while the government turns a blind eye. Girls as young as 10 are sold into slavery and locked in tiny cells, where they can be expected to service as many as 15 men a night.
The tragedy is outlined in the Halifax-produced documentary Selling Sex in Heaven, whose Canadian TV premiere airs tonight on CBC Newsworld at 11.
The film is written and directed by Mount Saint Vincent University professor Meredith Ralston and is narrated by the gravel-voiced Kiefer Sutherland, whose actor father Donald Sutherland was born in Halifax.
It follows Mila, a young prostitute who works in a little bar called Heaven in the “blowjob alley” district of Angeles City. The area was home to a U.S. air force base until 1991 but now is one of the largest sex tourism destinations in Asia.
Western men, mainly from the U.S., Australia and Sweden, flock to the Southeast Asian country for the warm weather, “male bonding, cheap beer and even cheaper women.”
Mr. Perrott said a Filipino police officer once told him that $2 US could get him oral and vaginal sex. For $5, a prostitute would be a slave for the day, doing laundry, cooking dinner and doing any sexual favours asked of her.
“And I said, ‘Two dollars?’ and he said, ‘If you think that’s too much, you can bargain down,’ ” a disgusted Mr. Perrott said.
A beer costs about $1 in the Philippines.
Read the full story at ChronicleHerald.ca
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