Decriminalizing prostitution

BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – While the cold Siberian breezes are blowing here, reports have it that quite a number of visitors – heterosexuals, homosexuals and even those who like it both ways, are coming up for nude male and female dancers in abundance in this city of twinkling lights.

To warm themselves, our bubwit says, visitors frequent nightspots featuring lewd shows along Naguillan, Marcos and Magsaysay roads.

Most of those who frequent gay bars reportedly come from La Union and Pangasinan. Some, if not most of them are professionals who want to have a good time without the searing eyes of neighbors and acquaintances back home.
***
A favorite is a bar located beside a funeral parlor along Naguillan. While the aggrieved wail in grief at the nearby building, the gays and the matronas wail in sheer delight as they watch naked macho dancers strut their wares in the decrepit establishment.

There are dime a dozen establishments which also cater to straight males in girlie bars featuring ladies who wear skimpy clothes at the early hours of the show. As the night progresses, the dancers’ apparel fall one at a time until there is nothing left to the imagination. In most establishments, dancers and GROS could be taken out for a romp – of course for a sizable fee which is reportedly shared with the pimp and the establishment owner.
***
Business is booming, my bubwit says, no thanks to cops who only “patrol” these establishments to get their “cut.” They reportedly order drinks and pulutan without paying. Of course, beautiful GROs are always by their side.

Some officials, we are told, are reportedly on the take, to keep silent and not take action. The proprietors, the girls and their pimps have become bolder. Characters of the underworld reportedly add spice to the show by selling shabu or marijuana to the dancers to make them shed of their inhibitions and make them bolder in their salacious performance.
***
Nowadays, girls as young as 16 have reportedly been recruited as dancers or GROs from far places like the Visayas or Bicol. But recruits could also come nearby. A mother who hails from La Trinidad, Benguet, told an acquaintance she found her teenage daughter dancing high with shabu in a seedy spot along Naguillan while the drunk and rowdy male crowd hooted. The daughter earlier ran away after being scolded by her parents. The crying mother brought her home with the promise never to chide her again.

If the prostitution business is booming in this city, according to obsevers, it is because of usual reasons like lack of education and livelihood among prostitutes and presence of government “protectors.” Of course, some of the ladies admit they love the job and the perks that go with it if they chance on a moneyed client.

Baguio is one among the many cities in the country where prostitution nowadays, is seemingly “legalized” with the tolerance of public officials and a public gone immune to the trade.
***
It is an interesting development that a female lawmaker filed a bill Thursday seeking the decriminalization of prostitution to curb abuse and exploitation of women lured into sex work.

Tarlac Rep. Susan Yap said the Revised Penal Code punishes women who engage in sexual intercourse for money, failing to address the criminal liability of those who lure them into prostitution and the poverty that forced them into sex work. Go after the pimps, not the prostitutes, her bill actually says.

Citing a study by the Philippine Commission on Women, she said there are around 500,000 sex workers in the Philippines, many of whom were lured into their profession by criminal syndicates.

Of the number, 100,000 are children. She believes the measure “could be a new approach in addressing the problem (of prostitution in the country.)”

“We should not view the prostitutes as the source of the problem of prostitution. We should instead run after those who lured them into this kind of business,” Yap said. House Bill 1706 seeks to help prostitutes by entitling them to medical services, counseling, and legal protection services.
***
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and his brother Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. filed House Bill 1656, a measure that also seeks to decriminalize prostitution and provide victims with adequate protection.

The bill seeks to create the National Anti-Prostitution Council that will develop a program addressing prostitution. It also requires local government units to curb prostitution in their jurisdictions.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development has expressed support for the measure “to remove the stigma on prostitutes and favor the giving of options that will promote the victims’ economic well being.”

As to what the Roman Catholic Church bishops will say on the matter is another point of contention.