The area

Abstract

Santa Teresita hides its secret behind guarded iron doors. A densely packed slum district in the northern Philippine city of Angeles, locals know the place as the Area. Behind its fortresslike exterior are hundreds of women and girls, kept against their will as sex slaves in one of the biggest and most highly organised slavery operations in the world. Unconnected with the prostitution that is centred on the bar and disco district of Fields Avenue, the Area caters secretly and exclusively to local patrons, who are carefully screened before they can enter