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  • Twice a month, on a Friday, Vivienne and Lenita prowl the dimly lit streets of Cubao,

  • a commercial district in the Philippinesmost populous city.

  • They check on much younger women, streetwalkers, whom they callsisters.”

  • "They ask us for counseling when they have problems with the police."

  • "They seek us out."

  • Vivienne and Lenita used to ply the streets of Cubao in the 1990s too,

  • offering paid sex to customers.

  • They wanted out, almost as soon as they were introduced to the profession,

  • but feared their survival was at stake.

  • "If I leave that job, what will be my alternative?"

  • "I cannot be a clothes washer. My lungs are weak."

  • "Then I also ask myself, who will accept me?"

  • In the Philippines, prostitution is considered a crime committed by women alone.

  • The police often raid nightclubs and arrest women in the streets.

  • Bail is $50, equivalent to a week’s income for women like Vivienne and Lenita,

  • who work six hours a night, servicing at least three customers.

  • Vivienne recalls being arrested 40 to 50 times,

  • and staying in jail for a total of two years,

  • in her seven years as a prostitute.

  • Lenita says her experience is no different from Vivienne,

  • except that police often asked her for free sex or money in exchange for her freedom.

  • In 2002, after seven years in the flesh trade, Vivienne was finally able to get out.

  • Jean Enriquez, head of the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women-Asia Pacific or CATW,

  • took her under her wing, providing Vivienne with counseling and financial support.

  • "It’s a long process. A very, very long one."

  • "That’s why I am very grateful to the Coalition."

  • "Maam Jean did not give up on me."

  • "If she did, maybe I'd still be in prostitution."

  • Inspired by their own experiences,

  • Vivienne, together with four contemporaries in the profession, rescued also by the coalition,

  • formed Bagong Kamalayan Collective (Renewed Consciousness Collective) in 2004

  • to educate and fight for the rights of prostituted women.

  • They wanted torescuetheir sisters from the flesh trade.

  • According to CATW, there are over 5,000 prostitutes in Quezon City alone.

  • "(The policeman) will throw you and kick you."

  • "That policeman? If he caught up with us, we would have been clobbered."

  • "He even kicked Lian, who's pregnant!"

  • Bagong Kamalayan’s first few years were tough.

  • Abusive policemen continued to harass streetwalkers.

  • Earning a living was most difficult.

  • Vivienne struggled with the temptation of going back to the streets.

  • "The most difficult part is seeing your child go hungry."

  • "I had no joball I did was clean houses."

  • "In a week) I earned a measly Php 350 ($8) then."

  • But there was something to be so proud and happy about for the group.

  • In 2005, Quezon City passed an ordinance protecting prostituted women from arrest.

  • CATW-Asia Pacific had been lobbying for it for years.

  • Bagong Kamalayan makes sure that the ordinance is enforced.

  • "We go to the streets and talk to the women."

  • "Sometimes, we see the police (arresting) and we fight for the women."

  • "We take them with us. Sometimes, theyre even brought to court."

  • "We ask the presiding judge to let go of the women."

  • "Usually, were able to get the women without posting bail."

  • After six years of visiting the streets,

  • the ordinance is finally fully implemented today.

  • Now, police arrest the pimps and patrons, instead of the prostitutes.

  • Streetwalkers of Cubao say, cases of abuse have decreased significantly.

  • Aside from the street visits,

  • the group now rents a small apartment as a halfway house for streetwalkers.

  • Bagong Kamalayan counts over 300 members.

  • Of these, only 30 are active in the organization.

  • But, only 10 of them are completely out of the sex trade.

  • The group realizes that it needs to step up its efforts.

  • "A lot of them don’t want this job anymore."

  • "But the problem is, if they leave, what will be their alternative source of income?"

  • Just last year, Bagong Kamalayan formed a cooperative for active members.

  • They now manage a small canteen.

  • "It’s been our dream to be able to provide for work for the women."

  • "Eventually, we want this (canteen) to be able to subsidize our organization's expenses."

  • The group still has a long way to go in fulfilling its mission.

  • But, Vivienne says, it has already helped her and other women tremendously.

  • Vivienne and Lenita have kept their past from their children,

  • but they tell them of their advocacy and life-time mission.

  • "We really see each other as family. We help out in each others' problems."

  • "Even if some women leave the organization and return to prostitution,

  • once they decide to come back to us, we still accept them."

  • "Even if this happens over and over and over again, we still accept them."

  • "Because if we close our doors on them, who else will accept them?"

  • "It's just us."

  • Vivienne and Lenita call themselves survivors.

  • Both can't wait for the time when all their sisters become survivors as well.

Twice a month, on a Friday, Vivienne and Lenita prowl the dimly lit streets of Cubao,

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