Sex Trade in Philippines

The Angeles City Police Office (Acpo) has launched a campaign to stop alleged prostitution in the entertainment establishments in the Philippines city, which is blamed for making the city "the source" of AIDS & HIV in the country.

Last Sunday, Angeles policemen were on their second day of making the rounds of establishments catering to foreigners just outside the Clark Freeport Zone.

Superintendent Pedro Ramos, deputy city director for administration, started the campaign over the weekend to make bar owners
strictly comply with the "no barfine" rule or face the full force of the law.

Letters enjoining owners and operators and warning them of the consequences were distributed to establishments in Barangay Balibago, Malabañas, up to Anunas.

Ramos advised the entertainment business owners to strictly observe the "no barfine" policy, and/or any form of prostitution activities in their establishments.

He explained that this is to totally eradicate such immoral acts in the city in order to prove to the international community that the information is baseless and untrue.

We have already started campaigning on anti-prostitution by way of rescuing minors in the streets of Balibago and will soon be launching operations on sexually oriented establishments in the city, he said.

Ramos hoped that the concerned business operators would cooperate in this campaign to avoid apprehension of investors and managers who may be caught and charged for engaging in illegal and immoral activities, which also exploit Filipino women.

Two American nationals and a Briton were accused of white slavery and bribery by the police after authorities raided their night clubs on Fields Avenue. The raids resulted in the arrest of 57 hospitality girls, all working without permits.

DMZ Bar owner Norvel Delbert Bostick, a retired US Marine and a native of California, a certain "Daddy" Kelly of Honey Pot Bar and former UK policeman Richard Agnew have been slapped with criminal charges in court after the simultaneous raids.

Except for Bostick, who was detained at the city district jail for a direct bribery offense, police said Kelly and Agnew remain at large. They will still be facing a jail term if found in violation of Article 341 of the Revised Penal Code or the white slave trade.

Police said Bostick allegedly offered P9,000 to a member of the raiding team in exchange for the release of seven women arrested inside his bar. The policeman turned the offer and immediately handcuffed the American.

On Tuesday, police at the tourist belt area raided the Blue Nile Club, the biggest girlie bar on Fields Avenue. The bar employs more than 500 guest relations officers (GRO) including waitresses and dancers. Complaints said most of the workers there do not have permits.

Later, policemen raided the Honey Pot Bar and arrested five women, all working without the necessary permits from the city hall. Night clubs owners employing women without the necessary working permits is violation under a city ordinance, an official said.

Police said the campaign against prostitution will continue.

Police have arrested 65 young women, aged 18-27, during raids in the past three days in five Quezon City establishments.

Seven male dancers were arrested at the Makisig gay bar on Timog Avenue, Barangay Sacred Heart.

At around 2:30 am, QCPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) operatives arrested 13 dancers from the Encounter KTV Bar on Quezon Avenue after receiving information that they were suuposedly forced to perform lewd acts. Policemen also arrested the bar's floor manager, four cashiers and checkers, and 20 male customers.

The QCPD had arrested or invited for questioning at least 120 persons since it started last week its crackdown on suspected prostitution dens in the city.

Chief Inspector Cherry Lou Donato, chief of QCPD-CIDU's Women and Children's Desk, said one of the women was caught dancing in the nude. Donato said the 19-year-old girl told them she and most of the women in the bar were forced by the club owner to do lewd acts on stage: But even if the women consented to what their manager said, it was still a violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, Donato told the Inquirer.

About 11 pm Saturday, QCPD-CIDU agents apprehended 22 guest relations officers (GROs) from the Flirt Disco Bar in Cubao. Arrested were floor manager, five waiters and two cashiers. The GROs were later released after presenting work permits from the city government.

Another group of policemen swooped down on Bartolina II KTV Bar, also in Cubao, and arrested 17 GROs and dancers.

Meanwhile, QCPD Station 10 members raided the Executive Spa on Quezon Avenue, Barangay Roxas, after an anonymous informant reported that massage attendants offered sex to clients for P1,500. Thirteen massage attendants were brought to the Kamuning police station but were later freed.

Quezon City Police District chief, Senior Supt. Magtanggol Gatdula has ordered a district-wide crackdown on lewd shows in bars.

Gatdula said the campaign would cover gay bars, KTV bars and discos that feature nude shows: I have ordered all station commanders in the district to conduct their respective raids on these nightclubs. I do not expect them to return with zero results, he told Standard Today.

 Five foreigners were arrested for operating nightclubs in a former US Air Base in central Philippines, where hundreds of sex workers were supposedly trafficked from the south of the country.

Three Americans, a Japanese and an Australian were arrested after the Philippine National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) launched several raids on Sunshine Bar, the Blue Nile and the Golden Nile night clubs on Fields Avenue in Balibago village, said CIDG director, Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr.

The only detainee whose name was given out was Australian Terrence James Smith, manager of Sunshine Bar. Three of the other four remain in detention while one American has been released, said a source.

If convicted, they would be charged with human trafficking, which is penalised by life imprisonment.

About 17 women worked at the Sunshine Bar. The rest were from the other bars that were raided.

Most of the women came from Mindanao. They were promised jobs as factory workers, waitresses or sales ladies, CIDG Women and Children's Protection Desk head Superintendent Emma Libunao said in an unlikely sounding justification.

The sex workers did not voluntarily join their police 'rescuers', Libunao admitted.

It seems likely that the Philippines authorities reacted to a recent criticism of a lack of anti-trafficking commitment. The arrestees were probably just victims of an operation pandering to US anti-prostitution moralists.

When United States ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr claimed that 40% of male foreign tourists to the Philippines visited only for sex, the off-the-cuff comment became a diplomatic incident.

Hwever, the Philippine flesh trade catering to foreigners is growing in size and sophistication and by some estimates is starting to rival Thailand as a global sex tourism hub.

Males make up over 65% of all tourist arrivals. A leaked US diplomatic cable identified a number of Philippine sex tourism hubs, including Sabang Beach in Puerto Galera, Mindoro province.

Former labor under secretary Rene Ofreneo recently claimed that the number of Filipinos engaged in the sex trade was likely about the same size as the country's manufacturing workforce of around 850,000 workers. A recent Deutsche Welle special report claimed that the Philippine sex industry was the fourth-largest contributor to gross national product (GNP).

Economists say that entrenched poverty, where nearly 40% of the population lives on less than US$2 per day according to Asian Development Bank statistics, is a major push factor into the trade. Policy think-tank Ibon Foundation recently recommended that the government focus on sustainable poverty reduction and additional investments in public education, health, housing and infrastructure to curb the burgeoning sex trade.

Many young Filipino girls end up in so-called KTV bars, nightclubs, restaurants and massage parlors, a number of which are fronts for prostitution dens where customers can have sex for a fee ranging from US$20 to $50. Cash-strapped students are also turning to prostitution to pay their tuition bills or earn extra money to cover their weekly expenses, according to Asia Times Online interviews. Internet-based sexual services are also extending the trade into once remote rural areas.

Activists against the trade, meanwhile, are fighting a losing battle. The most difficult part is bringing people out of it or deterring others from joining it, said Ostrander. He said one of the most challenging issues of combating sex tourism is providing those in the industry with real options for other work. Can we offer them jobs?, he asked rhetorically. Unfortunately, the answer is no.