Prostitution

BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – A few days ago, a visitor from Pampanga who works abroad as a seaman was pleading to his buddy here to lend him money so he could get back home as he lost his moolah.

The poor guy said he needed at least P10,000 so he could show his wife the money was still in his ATM account as she could be furious once she found out he spent an additional night in this cold city in the company of a pretty lady. “If she will find out about the missing P10,000, I’m dead.”

He didn’t want to dance as a result of the missing money, he explained. The 56-year-old (okay, let us call him Boy Guapo) narrated one time he spent another night herewith another looker, the irate wife, a sharpshooter, pumped bullets on the floor between his feet making him dance Gangnam Style when he got home.
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The buddy was curious and asked Boy Guapo how he came to lose the money. The poor fellow said he went drinking earlier in a pub for “lions” located at the road entrance to Brent School. Seeing all the pretty ladies in skimpy shorts and mini-skirts around got his mind working.

So at closing time, he asked the guard where he could have a good time. You know, he winked at the guard. Tired after a hard day’s work looking at drunk and lovey-dovey people, the guard decided he could take a little time out to relax so he told Boy Guapo he could bring him to an “all out” place where girls leave nothing to the imagination. The guard said he would bring him there if he would pay for their fare and some beer.
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Both went to this seedy and remote nightspot along Marcos Highway where taxis are scarce and buses are often the only mode of transportation for those without vehicles. Word is around that jueteng lords and their minions frequent the area, but then, that is another story.

Anyway, Boy Guapo got acquainted with this pretty lady named Apple after picking her out from among the other dancers. After her striptease, they went upstairs to a VIP room where the lover boy confessed he had a mind-blowing good time with the ladywhose beauty, he swore, could give any of these young actresses a run for their money.

Nowhere to run in this city after the adventure, with no money except his briefs and clothes, lover boy turned to his buddy who asked another lady, who in turn asked another 5/6 lender to borrow the money for him.

“Paano pag nagkasakit ka,?” my friend asked him as the lady was looking for the money. “Nagsupot naman ako pare, Boy Scout tayo e.Wag mu lang sabihin sa kumare mu at magseselos yun. Inaantok kasi si manoy pagnakakaloko ang lambing at ngiti niya.”

Paanokanakapaggastosng P10,000 dun?Boy Guapomade some computations. It turnedout, a bottle of beer in the den was P375. The rest where the money disappeared into, you can deduce.

“Parangnakawalasahawla,” the buddy would tell me later after the incident. If lover boy got sick as a result of the (mis)adventure, I will tell you later. To make the long story short, lover Boy was lucky the lender had money to lend as somebody remitted to her.

Boy Guapo got home alright. So enough with him since he must be reluctantly dancing the lambada this time with his dangerous and stocky wife whose stare could melt cold steel, I was told.
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Let us talk this time about Apple and those who share the same profession. Apple is one of sex workers in the country reaching the half a million mark, a United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) -supported project bared here a few days ago.

"Tex", a Baguio-based rights advocate and a member of the Philippine Sex Workers Collective, told a media forum here as number of sex workers grows so does the number of cases of abuse and violence against them."The reason why so much of the abuse happens is that they are not recognized by law and the government," Tex said.

A UNDP-sponsored NGO called "Women Hookers Organizing For Their Rights and Empowerment (WHORE) is treading the thorny path toward government recognition of this job called prostitution since the medieval ages.

The project would start with a photography contest in the city that according to "Tex" will lend a human face to "hookers" or "whores", who also have human rights and need government protection.

UNDP is funding similar projects in other countries in Southeast Asia."As long as poverty is there, you expect more people to engage in prostitution," he said, adding there are about 500,000 sex workers in the country, 3,000 of whom are in Baguio City, one of the country's top tourist draws.Among others, Filipino sex workers face health issues, made worse by fear of being denied aceess to health services.
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WHORE, which began "talking" and organizing sex workers in Baguio, Tex said, has taken note of various anecdotes, illustrating the stigma that sex workers face as they have yet to secure recognition from the government.

"In extreme cases, we hear of sex workers complaining of rape to authorities, but rarely get serious results on the ground that they are not believed to have been raped because they are prostitutes. As if sex workers have no rights," Tex said.

In Baguio, more than 300 sex workers, mostly street hookers including males, are reportedly "talking" with WHORE.When finally given legal recognition, the advocacy group, a member of the Asia Pacific Sex Workers Union and the Sex Workers Asean group, said sex workers "can become members of unions fighting for their rights and welfare."

In Thailand, sex workers are recognized by the government and are able to raise their concerns to the government.“But we are not going for decriminalizing sex workers while criminalizing clients like the Swedish model,” Tex said. “It didn’t work there even.”

WHORE’s advocacy is facing daunting challenges, however.For one, the Catholic church here headed by Catholic Vicar CarlitoCenzon of the Baguio Vicariate is opposing the legalization of sex workers.

“No way,” Cenzon said.Even the supposedly liberal women’s group Gabriela said “legalizing prostitution is not an option, saying the government must instead remove them (prostitutes) from poverty,” said Cordillera women Igorot leader Mila Singson, regional coordinator of the Gabriela Women’s partylist. Singson, whose group has rescued a number of women who became sex slaves, said "women involved in prostitution should be criminalized."
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The UN report “Sex Work and the Law in Asia and the Pacific” supposes that “legal recognition of sex work as an occupation enables sex workers to claim benefits, to form or join unions and to access work-related banking, insurance, transport and pension schemes."

"In decriminalized contexts,” it says, “the sex industry can be subject to the same general laws regarding workplace health and safety and anti-discrimination protections as other industries."



Decriminalization, according to the UN involves the repeal of laws criminalizing sex work, being clients to sex workers or engaging in activities associated with sex work. It should also repeal laws that require mandatory testing or treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or other STIs, as well as laws that allow detention of sex workers for rehabilitation or correction.

"In decriminalized contexts,” it says, “the sex industry can be subject to the same general laws regarding workplace health and safety and anti-discrimination protections as other industries." Decriminalization, according to the UN involves the repeal of laws criminalizing sex work, being clients to sex workers or engaging in activities associated with sex work.

 It should also repeal laws that require mandatory testing or treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or other STIs, as well as laws that allow detention of sex workers for rehabilitation or correction.
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UN is recognizing that Filipino sex workers remain highly vulnerable to STIs including HIV as well as sexual and physical abuse due to stigma although the country has introduced laws aimed at preventing HIV and protecting the rights of infected patients.

But the UN said, ”these laws offer “limited protection” to sex workers amid the continued enforcement of criminal laws against sex workers and difficulties in accessing the justice system to enforce these rights."

Sex work, as well as businesses engaged in sex are illegal under Philippine laws, with penalties up to 30 days imprisonment for first offense and up to six months imprisonment for repeat offenders. But if the sex industry is thriving in the Philippines, that is another story.