I have posted this Article about sex and prostitution in the Philippines and I strongly commend those who have read and commented on it. That means you (and you know who you are) are not sleeping and as I have said, not like the apathetic many. I want to say now that I welcome all comments, whether against or pro to what I think of. This is the main reason why I don't put comment moderation in my settings because I highly respect what others think. I know this world is in chaos and have difficulties (actually much difficulties) in achieving harmony because all of us do not think alike and we have our own sets of principles in life, either based on what we have learned or what we have experienced.





[A predator on its prey... just comprehend the connection in this post!]





As I write this post, there are three respondents: Gina of the Meliorist Blog, Painting Philippines and W3ng. See their verbatim comments below:

1. From Painting Philippines :
not just in the Philippines.. but in other parts of the world. it can be stopped.. if people stop talking about it giving much energy to the said industry. it can be stopped.. if one person takes a step to bring about change.. and there's still drugs and other stuffs along the way too. if one person becomes so "anti-something", you create more of that something. this is a nice way to be informed but one should not be inundated with them. that's why i pretty much shift my focus on all the good things Pinas has to offer.. and slowly... the energy all the bad stuffs in Pinas will dwindle.. because no one talks about it.

2. By Gina:
while in college, i came to learn that prostitution has been a rampant problem in the Philippines. this year, i learned that some prostis here in some areas in Southern Luzon undress their "pagkatao" FOR AS CHEAP AS P50.00. Gosh! tsk! tsk! tsk! pathetic. It seems that it is worsening and worsening because no action can be seen from the Philippine government.

3. From W3ng: :
i guess, this thing happens because people suffers from poverty... and the root-caused of this is corruption in the government... if the wealth of the state are equally distributed and are not put inside the pockets of those corrupt officials then maybe this problem will, somehow, "lessen"... i have chosen the word "lessen" because i agree with you that this problem can't be stopped (it can be lessen but it's impossible to stop it)...
and your right...and also Karl Marx ... to say that the power of the legislation is not enough to solve the problems of a state.
i also agree with 'Painting Philippines' that it's better to "shift our focus on all the good things Pinas has to offer.." saying negative things about the state would make us think that the Philippines is a hopeless case... We should not lose hope... ika nga eh, "habang buhay may pag-asa"...
anyways, ang ganda ng blog mo..! naappreciate ko xa!






[...and remember the law of nature: the weak are easy preys...]







For all of them/you, many thanks because you have spent time reading this article on Sex in the Philippines. However, i have to reiterate some more points about this topic:

First:. Philippines is my country and I care for it. I have chosen to be vigilant and not a pretending blind and deaf.. Maybe to others, what I have posted or the report from the Manila Standard Today may only be a movie script or a fiction. To be honest, i used to believe so until I have passed by the long streets of Makati Avenue, Angeles City and have spent som time at Sababg Beach in Puerto Galera. Maybe, only maybe, if you have seen what I have witnessed, you will get scared and be shocked with the reality that uncovers before your very bulging eyes. Yes, women, both young and old in underwears singing in bands or entertaining men (mostly foreign) in those outfits or making gross acts that you can only imagine. The worst (that I have experienced so far) are in Puerto Galera (Sabang) where teens...early teens accompany old foreigners, with almost naked outfits showing their tattoed a$$3$, pierced belly buttons, colored faces, etc..etc. Yes, I sould have preferred to forget about those things but it's just not that easy seeing your fellow Filipinas (especially kids) treated this way. The more painful feeling is, I could do nothing to help!

I have grown in the rural areas, had a life of innocense (and of course ignorance) when I was a child. I have observed schools (primary and elementary) in my locality where teachers gossip during class hours, get manicure and pedicure, or sell ice candies without minding their class and pupils. I have studied in school where the library was only for display to guests and never opened for students; where books must be in shelves and never be touched. As Painting Philippines have said, we could shift our focus. Yes, I agree. I appreciate the beautiful things in the Philippines. See my page's side bar and you will see the paradise- like beaches of Cebu and the freshness of Loboc River that I like so much. I love these things in the country. And yes, better to see all the beautiful things but we have to admit and never be hypocrite that our country has lots of shortcomings and it badly needs betterment and progress. I never said there is nothing to be proud of in our country. There is so much actually and that is why we have to lessen the bad things so that we can give more emphases on the better ones and be more proud and happy about it.
Second: I have to tell, even this is a sad note, that prostitution is impossible to stop. I say IMPOSSIBLE! Why? This has been the oldest trade and have survived till this day. And why? Because in Philippines, the main reason for doing this job (and yes, i said job) is poverty. But we have to say and we MUST admit that their are lots of other reasons. White slavery (beyond the control of the women victims), sickness (nymph) and rebellion (if you have seen the movie, The General's Daughter) to name a few. Simply because the world has much prostitutes and lots of prostitution, it's not an excuse to do the same in the Philippines because we know too well how moralist and catholicised/christianized the Philippines is and how those poor prostis are treated like garbage. Yes, adding insult to injury as we may say so.

Third: Again, we cannot just close our eyes and cover our ears about the bad things around us. It's good to be in the comfort zone, all beautiful and nothing bad. But this is not the reality. We live in the real world where there is the law of survival, oprressor, the oppressed, prey and predator (if you know what I mean) How do you feel to visit the most beautiful house in the villa, carpeted, with beautiful lawns, have an artificial lake, all beautiful but when you happen to enter, you slipped and the carpet moved away showing all the dusts and dirts under it. How do you see that house and what would your impression be? That's why I always say that OUR country (the Philippines) is the BIGGEST definition of hypocrisy/hypocrite. All the bad things are kept and all the good items are displayed. I do not like this system, that is why you are reading one of my posts now.

Fourth: Never it will happen that people can keep quiet about this reality (or any reality for that matter). There is the media, there are the organized crime group to advertise it, there are foreign exploiters in the country, there are much white slavery, there are pimps and it's not only these... the list goes on. There is no way we can control what the others will say about it. That is why I simply recommend to lessen it. If you happen to search online on sexy filipinas (or something of this theme) and your safe search is off, you will see kids doing what you cannot imagine them doing at their age. If we keep our mouth shut about this, if we continue to sleep on our comfort zones, many Pinay girls and women will be opressed and abused. Awareness is the first step in solving a problem. If you have a cancer, you must discover it in the early stage for it to be curable. There is hope as we live but we have to act fast. Start little, end big. Hoping without acion is not enough. Writing and passing laws are not enough. We all know this truth and compliments to the idea of W3ng on Karl Marx's view for this.

Honestly, I apologise to my fellow Filipinos for this is the only thing I can do so far (after and aside from not throwing garbage anywhere). I have no machineries and capacity to do big for the meantime. But I will be back in the Philippines when I am ready. When I am ready to help but I have to help myself first.

Fifth (and my last view for the meantime), simple advocacy is not enough. And being "Anti-something" is really not enough because again, these can be only the pretense of those who have ulterior motives. I won't say anything on this but I quote here the specific example I have taken from the same report of Manila Standard Today:

"On Jan. 14 to 21, more than 3,000 foreign participants went to Davao for the ATF Forum, the largest tourism event in the region that has tackled different issues related to tourism including sex tourism. So successful was the event that the city had to turn away more than 100 Korean participants who could not be accommodated in the city’s fully occupied hotels, one Mindanao-based economist says. During the forum, participants committed to address the problem of sex tourism and child exploitation in Asia.

One driver, however, claims that some male foreign participants in the forum went out at night and found their way to the city’s nightspots. Bar girls confirm this. Many ATF participants were treated to a night of fun at one KTV, one source says. Almost all nightspots, particularly those near hotels such as Marco Polo and Apo View, had foreign guests. Even pick up girls and call girls had foreign customers in January, a friend of these girls claims.

Tour operators also confirm this, although they say this was not a part of the participants’ official itinerary. “We do not encourage tourists to go to these spots, although we have no choice but to bring them to the legitimate bars, when they ask for it,” a tour operator says.

Just to discuss all, this post is not enough and will be too long if I do so. Just watch out for more views and updates. Don't expect all these are bad for I have planned to post how beautiful Bohol is but I have to post this as inspired by the three comments to my Sex in the Philippines post as I have mentioned above.
For related posts and other posts on Philippine Issues (as I see it) you may read on some below:

Sex in the Philippines

How Philippines Can Progress if Its Male Inhabitants Piss Like Dogs?

On Estrada's God is Punishing the Country (Philippines)

Another Big Pinoy Hypocrisy :The Half a Million Abortion!