Anne and KC are two 15 year olds who were trafficked by their aunt when they were barely 14, with the promise of jobs at a restaurant in Manila. Drawn by the “glamour” of the city lights, the two went with Dada Nina and lived in an apartment somewhere in Quezon City and offered to men willing to pay the 10,000-peso price tag of a virgin.

We met them here in Samar where they told us the story of how they and many other young girls here were drawn by promises of free cell phones, a 3,000-peso per month salary and the possibility that they could help rescue their families from the poverty that surrounds them.

Indeed, amidst the lush greenery, fresh air and idyllic surroundings, you can see the poverty. In Anne’s family’s one room shack made of yero and wood, the dirt floor of the kitchen is bare, save for a triangular-shaped steel bar to hold a pot over some wood. On the sides, a few ears of dried corn, and three pineapples. I ask about where the food is, and her mother points to the dried corn. We are setting up our camera in this one room with nothing to sit on except the floor. I want to ask her mother about her bold attempt to have Anne rescued from the house where her “employer” held her captive.

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