The United States is the largest mail-order importer of Filipinas, and many of these women… The United States is the largest mail-order importer of Filipinas, and many of these women end up abused or murdered by their spouses, said a speaker at the William Pitt Union yesterday.

The Filipino Student Association hosted an event about human trafficking in the Philippines in the Union Ballroom as part of International Week.

Doris Mendoza, the secretary general of The Gabriela Network USA, works with citizens of the Philippines to better their situations.

As the speaker for the occasion, she focused mainly on the prostitution system that the country has developed and the economic and political motives for it.

Mendoza began by explaining the history behind the growth of the Philippines sex-trade structure.

Apparently, the Philippine government thought that exporting goods and services would build its economy and help pay off its national debt. It hasn’t worked, according to Mendoza, because 80 percent of the population lives in poverty. The women, who once were the strong figures of the community, have been weakened to selling themselves in exchange for money to survive, she said.

Financial issues for these women led many to consider succumbing to sex trafficking, which is “any transport of persons, mostly women and children, within and across national borders for purpose of profit,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza then shared grim details about the different types of sex trafficking, which include mail-order brides, sex tourism, military prostitution and direct prostitution.

Sex tourism ads promote sex with multiple Filipinas, involving an actual trip under $1700 that includes roundtrip airfare, a hotel stay and tours of bars where women are purchased.

And since the United States decided to station multiple troops there as a second front for the War on Terror, prostitution has gone up 600 percent.

Mendoza stressed that the War on Terror has had other effects on the country, such as displacing hundreds of families, so that the soldiers would have places to live. This makes families more desperate for survival and even more willing to participate in paid sex acts.

Also, the community activists who are trying to change this sex system and the Philippines’ economy are now being targeted as terrorists and are being murdered.

At one point, Mendoza looked out at the audience and tried to cheer them up by saying, “[The situation’s] not so grim. It’s good. There are still people who are not scared of the threats, who are still out there fighting.”

She further explained some positive changes that are taking place in the country.

Her organization offers health services to women, especially those who leave the country. Filipinas learn that they may be exploited by their husbands or employers in other countries. This is done to prepare them for what sexual acts they may be expected to perform.

Education about their economy is also a big issue for the network. It stresses that the country could do well if it developed an agriculturally based economic system because they have the land to do it. The network puts this idea into action by helping people acquire one plot of land for an entire community. This way, many people will have the exposure to farming and will make at least a small profit from it.

Marissa Angeles, vice president of the Filipino Student Association, enjoyed the speech and thinks that the network is doing really great work for a great cause.

Mendoza also believes that the network is making progress in its fight for creating awareness of the issues and in helping to solve them.