It usually begins with a painfully familiar story. A young girl from an impoverished family is lured by the friend of a friend who promises her a high-paying job abroad as a waitress. The amount both staggers and delights her, and she immediately says yes. How can she not want to help her family, after all? The paper work, magically, is prepared for her in the blink of an eye. She is told that she will be sent to the Middle East but must first pass by Malaysia as a stowaway. So, she boards a motorized banca as the dusks begins to set in, hoping to evade roving coast guards on her way from Tawi-Tawi to Sabah. Before long, she finds herself in a cramped, dark space, her wrists caressed by cold chains. She receives a box with 30 condoms and is coldly informed that that’s her quota, if she hopes to eat that day. By then, everything is too late – another human trafficking victim.
