Wearing flashy jewelry and bragging about her connections to rich employers, Virgie found it easy to impress the parents of the two young girls, April and May. The parents were farm workers in a large hacienda in Hinobaan, Negros Occidental who were finding it difficult to feed their 10 children. It was already off-season in the sugar plantation and their debts were starting to pile up.

Virgie offered domestic work in Manila to the two girls. Each of them were to receive P2,500 a month, have days off and go anywhere they wished.

Although pleased with the offer, the girls’ father was reluctant because he knew that it would be difficult for his daughters to adjust to the fast life of the city. At the same time, he realized that letting them go would mean having two fewer mouths to feed.

Meanwhile, the girls’ mother was well aware of Virgie’s reputation in the community as a recruiter of Filipino entertainers for Japan. But Virgie was quick to dismiss her job’s notoriety by bragging about the women she had helped to land jobs in Japan, who had already managed to buy appliances and build concrete houses for their families.

When Virgie came back the next day, she gave the parents a P1,000 advance payment and two calendars as souvenirs. The parents finally gave their blessing.

April and May couldn’t sleep that night because they were too excited. Going to Manila had always been their dream, and getting hold of money for the first time in their lives would mean new clothes, cell phones and some remittance for their parents.

The following day, Virgie brought her new recruits to the Bacolod Pier where they would take the ferry to Manila. But the boat’s departure was delayed until early the next day.

This gave Virgie the opportunity to brief the girls about some important things. She revealed that in reality each of them would only receive P1,200 a month because of the debts they had already incurred during the recruitment. For example, each of them had to pay back the P1,000 salary advance that was given to their parents. They would also have to shoulder their bus and boat fare amounting to P3,000. Finally, Virgie told them that she would have to take P1,000 from each of them as a recruitment and finder’s fee.

Surprised but left without a choice, the two girls quietly accepted what they were told. Had they known early on about the scheme, they might have declined Virgie’s seemingly sweet offer. Now, however, they were under Virgie’s control because their parents had taken the money. They were already in debt.

The two girls’ misgivings deepened when they were instructed to lie about their real age should authorities inquire about them. If anyone asked, they were to say that they were traveling together as relatives and going to Manila for a vacation.

They arrived at the Manila Pier without hassle. But when they were about to disembark, Virgie instructed them and the other girls to go out in pairs and said she would meet them outside the gates. The sisters noticed the strangers who, together with the ship’s crew members, were distributing contact cards and flyers to disembarking passengers. These strangers told the passengers to keep the cards and to call the hotline if they ever needed help in the future.

The recruits regrouped in an eatery across the street. Later on, a van arrived and brought them to a house in Cavite.

The house was called a training center. April and May met other young girls there who seemed like newcomers to the city just like them. Virgie gave strict instructions to the girls not to leave the house because she would not look for them if they got lost. The sisters became confused and afraid.

After a few days, April and May started to notice a pattern: every night, some of their companions would be allowed to leave the house. A van would come to fetch the girls, then would return the next morning.

The sisters’ fears were somewhat allayed each time they were tasked to clean up the house with the help of the other girls, as this meant that they would not be leaving in the mysterious van. They also cooked for the group during their month-long stay in the center. When they asked Virgie if they would receive any money for their hard work, however, she simply scolded them.
Because they already partially suspected what was going on, the two girls were not surprised when Virgie told them that it was their turn to do “another form of service.” A new batch of young girls fresh from Surigao was immediately assigned to do the sisters’ cleaning and cooking tasks.

April and May were then taken to a place where they were forced to undress. Someone applied skin whitening creams to their bodies. Their eyebrows were also plucked and their hair dyed blonde. Soon they were told they were ready to start their dancing lessons.

During their dancing class, some girls teased them, saying that April and May would soon start entertaining men who would pay them handsomely if the sisters treated them nicely and manipulated them with some sweet talk. Realizing that they were to be trapped in prostitution, the two girls pleaded with Virgie to let them go back to domestic work but they were simply ignored.

One night, the girls were herded into a room and told to trim their pubic hair. Sensing the danger awaiting them, the sisters instead tagged along with some girls from Surigao for a chance to escape their fate. They sneaked out of a back door, found an opening in the fence, and ran as fast as they could, dissolving into the darkness.

One of them had hidden in her underclothing the calling card that was given to them at the Manila Port. It bore VF’s hotline for the pier, which they immediately called. A few hours later, VF’s social workers met the girls in a churchyard, where they had been hiding.

After another month of waiting at VF’s safe house, April and May finally went home to Negros. Although empty-handed, they were more than thankful to be home and free.