The militant women’s organization Gabriela on Sunday said President Benigno Aquino III’s failed disaster response effort after super Typhoon “Yolanda” has forced women and children into prostitution in the Eastern Visayas region.
Two years after Yolanda, Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus accused President Aquino’s Department of Social Welfare and Development of aggravating poverty and pushing womenfolk to sell their bodies.
“Law enforcement efforts to stem human trafficking of women and girls will not prevent hordes of Yolanda victims from falling prey to the lure of prostitution to ease hunger and poverty,” De Jesus said.
Congressional candidate Yedda Romualdez of the Yolanda-devastated first district of Leyte, which includes Tacloban City, echoed her husband senatorial candidate and incumbent Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez’s plea for gotvernment to be responsive and to show caring for vulnerable sectors of society.
“Vulnerability of women and children is an offshoot of poverty and lack of livelihood opportunities in the disaster-stricken areas. At this point of rehabilitation, it is essential to create more jobs and sustainable livelihood opportunities so they do not fall prey to trafficking schemes,” Yedda Romualdez said.
De Jesus, who attended the local launch of the global One Billion Rising campaign among women activist groups in Leyte, said that despite the establishment of a Committee on Violence Against Women and Children in Tacloban, called the Aquino administration’s rehabilitation efforts “too little and too late.”
Romualdez said Taclobanons did not only see relief goods rotting but also witnessed donated bancas or fishing boats lying unused.
“Fishing alone cannot provide for their families,” Romualdez said.
Because Leyte’s primary agri-industry of coconut farming will need at least another five years to get back on its feet, Romualdez said the women and children of fisherfolks and farmers are hard-pressed to find work.