Philippine Crackdown on Prostitution

Philippine agents swooped down on discos, sauna baths and public parks over the weekend and seized 691 “entertainers” and street children in the biggest crackdown on prostitution in years, officials said Monday.

“This is just the beginning. Expect more to come,” National Bureau of Investigation Director Mariano Mison said after vice squads raided 23 suspected prostitution fronts in Manila and six satellite towns.

The raids followed an order from President Fidel V. Ramos for an intensified campaign against the country’s notorious sex industry as child abuse increases.

Nearly 500 bar girls, sauna bath attendants and waitresses and about 200 street children, ages 10 to 14, were arrested during the weekend raids.

Four people suspected of running brothels were detained. Some of the establishments had police protection, sources in the National Bureau of Investigation said.

Sen. Ernesto Herrera said some of the child prostitutes were only 7 years old.