Mail-Order Brides: Industry Thrives

Gorgeous Pacific Women! Pen pals, romance!, one ad promises.

BEAUTIFUL EDUCATED FILIPINAS . . . seeking friendships, another ad says.

Pearls of the Orient - Beautiful, English-speaking, want to write to you, a third advertisement claims.

The magazine ads, brochures and videos promise to link American men to Filipina pen pals for romance and long-term relationships.

A day after three women were shot dead in Seattle - and the husband who met his future bride through a mail-order magazine was arrested for their murder - many now call for closer scrutiny of the under-regulated industry and help for immigrant brides.

To former Seattle City Councilwoman Dolores Sibonga, the mail-order companies are "trafficking in slavery. No woman is chattel," Sibonga said at a press conference yesterday morning.

Susana Blackwell, her seven-to-eight-old fetus, and friends testifying on her behalf, Phoebe Dizon and Veronica Laureta Johnson, were killed inside the King County Courthouse Thursday. Blackwell's estranged husband, Timothy, was arrested at the scene.

The mail-order-bride industry has quietly flourished for the past decade - women's groups combating it say - growing to a multi-million-dollar industry that brings thousands of foreign-born women to the United States each year.

Although the Philippine government forbids agencies from openly advertising and recruiting women, the businesses have not been deterred, said Ninotchka Rosca, who founded a national Filipina organization that pushes for scrutiny of the industry.

Many Filipinas attempting to escape the abject poverty of the islands accept jobs as domestic servants. More troubling to Rosca are the estimated 5,000 women each year who try to marry their way out of grim living conditions.

Men subscribers pay hundreds of dollars to obtain catalogs such as Cherry Blossoms and Sunshine International, which are jammed with smiling photographs and sunny descriptions of the women. Many women pay, as well, to have their photographs printed.

It's not clear how many are matched up in relationships that work. "We only find out when they're dead or when they're trying to escape an abusive relationship," said the Rev. Thelma Burgonio-Watson, of the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence in North Seattle.

Local Immigration and Naturalization officials and immigrant women's rights groups could not estimate how many mail-order brides are in the Seattle area. All say the immigrant brides are especially vulnerable.

"By definition, you have women coming from a different culture. You have two people who most likely don't speak the same language," said Vicky Stifter of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project gives legal assistance to low-income women and was helping Susana Blackwell to leave her alleged abusive relationship without risking deportation.

June Myers, who helps battered women at New Beginnings, believes two of the 30 women on her caseload are mail-order brides.

Myers is helping to begin a support group for battered Asian and Pacific Island women.