Prostitution in the Philippines

Prostitution is  illegal. Women working in the bars have to be registered and are required to undergo frequent health checks. Recently, the government has announced measures to battle the country's child prostitution and sex tourist image.

Bar girls have to be at least 18, are issued ID tags as GRO’s (Guest Relations Officers – how creative!). They are required to have weekly health checkups for STDs and monthly be tested for HIV. Many of the bargirls/dancers wear their ID tags around their necks. A nice women cab driver in Manila, who used to live in Angeles, confirmed the health check requirements are both in Angeles and Manila.

Local cities enforce GRO laws differently and within a city payoffs may be common. One story claims Vixens in Pasay was closed after the 1998 elections when they refused to pay the new mayor P3million to stay open. They closed and a new owner reopened it as Axions. These political payoffs are just part of doing business as I later discuss based on newspaper articles I read while in Manila.

Barfines are technically illegal. Instead a bar may charge you 10 ladies drinks to compensate the bar for taking the girl for the evening. I was charged lady drink prices that ranged from about P125 ($US 3.29) to P265 ($US 6.99) depending on location. Often I had the company of an attractive young lady for an hour or more on one lady drink. The prices were the cheapest in Angeles with Makati being the most expensive.

The term barfine was used in the bars however when I was there in April 1999. In Angeles City I paid barfines of about P950 ($US25) and only bought one lady drink for the women I took out for the night. Some Angeles bars have much lower barfines.

The women in the bars can decide whether or not to be barfined by a customer. A barfine is a fine you pay to the bar for lost lady drink fees to allow the girl to leave the club early and spend the rest of the evening with you. Barfining a girl is for companionship and is not a payment for sex. Consenting adults certainly can share sexually, but that is not what the barfine is for.

Typically a small tip for her companionship the next morning is given to the girl as she leaves your room. The Angeles bargirl also gets about 50% of the barfine and 25-30% of lady drinks. In Manila the girl doesn’t get any of the barfine and you negotiate a separate companion fee, which typically ranges from about P1000 ($26) in Pasay to a high P3000 ($US 79) in Makati.

The popular Cotton Club in the EDSA Entertainment Complex in Pasay had a sign hung on the door "Closed by the mayor" From girls I talked to they said it was because they were caught charging barfines. But all the other clubs in the Complex do also. It was suggested perhaps Cotton Club didn’t pay off the officials enough.

In April 1997 there was a big crackdown by closing numerous nightclubs by the police. The crackdown was stimulated by numerous articles in the national newspapers about Internet Websites promoting Angeles City as a "Sex Capital" and some sites actually promoting "sex tours" to Angeles.

Local clubs in downtown Angeles that did not cater to foreign tourists were raided and closed in 1997. This was a maze of houses and brothels where young women, often under the required age 18, were often kept against their will.

As Kabayo in the asfo private E-mail list said: "This area is called 'The Area', and is only a bit cheaper than Santos Street, full of marginal girls of all ages, many young enough to put you away. They do not get health checkups, are unlicensed (so you cannot protest your arrest by saying that the gov't had approved their proof of age), and it is said to be unsafe for foreigners. I think it is all back to business as usual, except when the newspapers are on a crusade."

In the tourist area, such as along Fields Avenue, they shut down clubs found to be conducting lewd shows (nudity or sexual exposure), employing underage girls, or employing unlicensed Guest Relations Officers. The clubs now are careful not to expose those dirty sexy body parts that seems so offensive to certain people. Small bikinis were common.


The city Mayor, Edgardo Pamintuan, takes a realistic approach to cleaning up the image of Angeles City. He said the problem of sexual exploitation of women and children in Angeles City "must be taken within social and economic contexts, and to some degree, political. The lack of opportunities in other depressed areas in the country leads women to seek greener pastures in other urban areas such as Angeles." Pamintuan said. "Many of these opportunity seekers, for want of any other option, end up in the flesh trade."

As long as the nightclubs operate in compliance with the rules established by the Angeles City Mayor's Office and the ordinances of the Angeles City Council there has been no problem as far as I’ve been able to research.

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A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PHILIPPINES' SEX INDUSTRY

Prostitution in the Philippines is not just a festering moral problem, but is now a grave social crisis which might spiral out of control with far-reaching health, criminal and other negative repercussions if unchecked. As our politicos thoughtlessly imperil our economic development with their massive corruption and vicious wars, more and more impoverished young people are falling prey to the dangerous lure of the sex-for-pay trade and possible exploitation by criminals.


Prostituted persons, according to a 1998 International Labor Organization study in 1998, numbered about 400,000 to 500,000. Most of them were adult women, but there were also male, transvestite and child prostitutes, both girls and boys. The number of child prostitutes then was estimated to be around 75,000. Child prostitutes often live perilously and are exploited by crime gangs, pimps and even drug pushers. That 1998 study quoted a former labor undersecretary, Rene Ofreneo, who revealed that the number of prostituted persons in the Philippines was then actually about the size of the country's manufacturing workforce. With the weakening of the Philippine economy in recent years, how much have these numbers increased?

In 1998, a study claimed that 150,000 Filipino women were trafficked into prostitution in Japan. It is tragic that this was allowed to happen, even as the modern-day Japanese government has refused to officially pay reparations to the estimated 80,000 to 200,000 so-called "comfort women" who were kidnapped  and sexually exploited by Japanese soldiers' during World War II from Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, China and Malaysia.

The Philippines ranked fourth among nine nations with the most number of children trafficked for prostitution, according to a report by the Consortium Against Trafficking of Children and Women for Sexual Exploitation (Catch-Wise). The Catch-Wise report was presented this year during the international conference on sexual exploitations and it stated that the Philippines is not only the source of 60,000 to 100,000 children for prostitution, but we are now also a transit and destination country for internationally trafficked persons.

Data provided by the International Labor Organization also showed that two to 14 percent of the gross domestic product of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand comes from sex tourism.
Instead of addressing the huge social injustice and other problems of widespread prostitution, or safeguarding the rights and welfare of less fortunate citizens, it is tragic that not a few of our politicians, police or military officers have a dubious track record of sexually exploiting or assaulting girls.

Who was that politician who tried to molest or insult a sexy starlet? Rep. Romeo Jalosjos raped a 12-year-old girl. Bian Mayor Bayani Alonte was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl. Former Quezon Rep. Manolet Lavides was involved in the prostituting of four high school students from Novaliches High School. Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan was involved in the case of a 16-year-old model being prostituted by talent manager Jojo Veloso.

Past reports recorded that five policemen in San Fabian, Pangasinan were accused of raping an 11-year-old girl inside police barracks, while four policemen on duty were implicated in the rape of a 17-year-old girl inside the police station in Luneta. SPO2 Roel Waga and police investigator in Barangay Puerto, Cagayan de Oro City was involved in the sexual harassment of a 13-year-old girl.

Last Oct. 5, which was "International Day of No Prostitution," this writer researched and went to a huge palatial "spa" in the south of the metropolis to seek out an exclusive interview with a prostitute. After choosing a "masseuse" from an "aquarium" of girls seated inside a well-lit room with a one-way mirror separating them from customers, I paid the afternoon "promo" room rate of P2,000. The regular night room rate is P2,500.
"Anna," in her early 20s, was at first ill at ease when I said I only needed to interview her for a research study. I never mentioned that it was for a newspaper column, but I told her I wouldn�t mention her name and would obscure some facts. She only relaxed and laughed when I assured her I�d pay her usual fee. This was the first time that I had to pay for an interview. Here are excerpts:

PHILIPPINE STAR: In your own assessment, has the number of prostitutes in the Philippines increased or decreased? Why?

ANNA: Of course, the number of prostitutes has increased by threefold. Here in our establishment, many girls coming here every day to apply for work. Times are hard. You know, the government of Japan even stopped the entry of Filipina entertainers there, so lots of women are jobless and end up as prostitutes. I'm not ashamed of my work, at least I'm not stealing.

Have you worked in Japan, too?
Yes, I used to work in Japan. I was there only six months. We enter as entertainers, but most of us have to earn through prostitution. I worked in Nagoya, that's four hours away from Tokyo.

How was it like working in Japan?
Except for the high pay, I didn't like it much. It was boring. The roads are too quiet, unlike our noisy streets in Metro Manila.

Did your Japanese clients mistreat you?
There were good and bad customers, but in general, the Japanese were OK.

What did you do with your earnings from Japan?
I have some savings. I know the dangers of giving all earnings to relatives. I'm just a simple girl, not very intelligent, but I'm not dumb either. I'm not like other girls who give all their money to family members who do not work. My relatives don't know I have a time deposit account. On men who are bums, I know of two girls who work here in this spa, they have live-in guys who just stay in their homes and are jobless.

Do you have a boyfriend? What is his work?
I used to have a boyfriend. He was my neighbor. He's now working for a band in Japan. I don't know if we'll get back together. I don't know if it's a good idea to have a boyfriend, especially with my kind of work. I'm still helping out my siblings in their schooling, but they don't know I work here.

Why did you enter prostitution?
For the money, of course. If you're poor, you have few choices in life. People go into prostitution due to poverty.

Why do you think the Philippines has become such a poor nation?
I'm not an intelligent person, I didn't go to college. But isn't it obvious that too much corruption by our politicians is one big reason why the Philippines is economically so poor? I think our many corrupt leaders are terrible hypocrite. At least prostitutes like me are not hypocrites; we are trying to work honestly.

Are you in favor of deposing the present government?
We should do more than just change political leaders. We keep changing the politicians, but all of them just end up stealing. Most of our political leaders are thieves. You know, I might be a prostitute and am looked down upon by society, but I think I have a more honorable job than our politicians who steal and make the country poor. We prostitutes work hard for our money. We do not steal.

Do you have any suggestions on how to solve the massive corruption by our politicians?
That's very easy. Increase the punishment for corruption and be sure to jail the powerful big shots in politics. If we are serious about fighting corruption, show us the highest punishment for these corrupt people. But I doubt they are really serious about this.

Where are you from? How long have you been working here?
I was born in a province in northern Luzon. I am the eldest of seven kids from a poor family. I was a child when our father left us. I've been here only three months. I studied only up to high school. I used to work as a saleslady in a department store. I wanted to become a nurse but I guess it's impossible now.


How many hours do you work here?
I work eight hours daily. Yes, management told us that if we are studying, they can adjust our work hours to even four hours daily.

You will not always be young and I don't think you want to be working here forever. You can save and study to be a caregiver. Look at movie stars, they are not always popular, and if they don�t plan the future, they suffer.
I agree. Yes, I will study to become a caregiver. I hear it's easier to enter Japan as a caregiver now than an entertainer. I wish all my customers are as nice as you. Are you sure you don't want even just a massage?