Riva had been living a quiet life in a city north of Bacolod when her friends told her that they were planning to move to Manila to work as housekeepers. Looking for a better life, Riva decided to join her friends and left her four children in her mother’s care. Her parents were unable to stop her. That was more than 14 years ago.
Instead of Manila, however, Riva and her friends ended up in Baguio. They were scammed and forced to work in a bar. “I just went with it because I had nowhere to go,” she says. She contacted her mother to inform that she was in Baguio but decided to cut off all communication after that.
Riva has been detained in Rodriguez Municipal Jail for almost two years. Photo: L