Sison: De-criminalizing prostitution

ANGELES CITY health authorities reported 10 new suspected cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Dr. Teresita Esguerra, chief of the social hygiene center of the city health office, also noted an eight percent increase in cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among thousands of women registered as workers in local bars and other tourist-oriented establishments (Ding Cervantes, Philippine Star, January 05, 2011).
There are about half a million sex workers in the Philippines, most of who were lured and exploited by crime syndicates, according to the Philippine Commission on Women. This prompted lawmakers to file several measures decriminalizing prostitution and upholding the rights of victims being exploited by crime syndicates.
Rep. Susan Yap (2nd District, Tarlac), principal author of House Bill 1706, said decriminalizing prostitution could be a new approach in addressing the problem.
The Revised Penal Code, which punishes women who engage in sexual intercourse for money, fails to recognize compelling reasons such as poverty and human trafficking.
Citing a report of the Philippine Commission on Women, Yap said of the estimated 500,000 sex workers in the country, 100,000 are children. The existing law also fails to address the criminal liability of exploiters such as recruiters, pimps, bar or brothel owners and customers who cause the prostitution.
In line with recent reports that the US State Department pronounced the Philippines as remaining in Tier 2 watch list of countries whose governments have failed to improve efforts against human trafficking, Yap also filed House Bill 1705, which seeks the imposition of stiffer penalties for government officials involved in human trafficking.
Traffickers clandestinely organize their transport operations through different ports and land routes across the country. Many government officials fall prey to bribes and collude with these traffickers and syndicates, engaging themselves in airport escorting scheme or pre-arranged passage for trafficking victims.
Although the Bureau of Immigration (BI) has already instituted a number of measures in the airports to prevent these corrupt practices, incidents of human trafficking are still high.
Based on DSWD data, 2,298 cases of human trafficking were reported from 2003 up to the first quarter of 2010. Aside from immigration and police officers, other officers who may be susceptible to collusion with syndicates are airline personnel, coast guards, officers of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), the Philippines Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa).
Although we have already made progress in the campaign against human trafficking through the enactment of the Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, to be more effective in preventing these kinds of incidents, RA 9208 needs to be amended to include the imposition of stiffer penalties for government officials involved in human trafficking.
Specifically, Rep. Yap seeks the “imposition of higher penalties (i.e. increase in the term of imprisonment from 20 to 25 years), in cases where an official or employee of the government would be committing acts of trafficking in persons such as recruitment, transport, harboring, or sale of persons, within or across national borders, for the purpose of exploiting for labor, prostitution, domestic servitude, bonded sweatshop labor, or other kinds of work and slavery-like practices, or organ removal and sale (Section 4 of RA 9208).
Stiffer penalties (i.e. increase in the term of imprisonment from 15 to 20 years) are also proposed for government officials or employees who shall commit acts that promote trafficking i.e. assistance in the conduct of misrepresentation or fraud in acquiring clearances and necessary exit documents from government agencies and facilitation or assistance in the exit and entry of persons with unissued, tampered, or fraudulent travel documents. The proposed measure likewise seeks stiffer penalties (i.e. increase in the term of imprisonment from six to ten years) for acts constituting violation of the confidentiality provisions as found in Section 7 of RA 9208 by government officials and employees”.
Relatively, party-list solons are seeking stiffer penalties for individuals found guilty of exploiting Filipino women by engaging them in mail-order bride services, which is a form of Internet prostitution. At present, violators of Republic Act 6955 or the 1990 Anti-Mail Order Bride Law are meted a jail term of up to six years.
Under House Bill 6961 filed by CIBAC Party-list Reps. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales and Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva, violators shall face a jail term of up to 20 years and pay a fine of not more than P100,000. Furthermore, if the offender is a foreigner, he shall be immediately deported and barred perpetually from entering the country after serving his sentence and payment of fine.
Cruz-Gonzales said because of RA 6955, companies engaged in the mail-order bride services have moved into cyberspace devoted to matching men with Filipinas.
Under HB 6961, it shall be unlawful for anyone to establish or carry on a matchmaking website business, which offers membership for free to Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals either on a mail-order basis or through personal introduction by way of recruitment or through emails or websites in the Internet. It shall also be unlawful to advertise, publish, print or distribute any brochure, flier or any propaganda material including those distributed and made available through the Internet. Likewise, it shall be unlawful to use the postal service and the Internet to promote the mail order bride business according to the measure. The manager, editor in chief, or advertising manager of any newspaper, magazine, television, radio station and other media including internet websites are likewise prohibited from allowing or consenting to the unlawful acts.
Prostitution in Olongapo City and Angeles City was highly prominent during the time of the US military bases called Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base, respectively. When the Pinatubo volcano erupted in 1991, it destroyed most of Clark Air Base and the US closed it down in 1992. Most of the associated prostitution trade closed with it, but when the mayor of Manila, Alfredo Lim, closed down the sex industry area of Ermita during his first term, many of the businesses moved to Angeles, finding a new customer base among sex tourists. Other tourist areas such as Cebu have also developed a high profile prostitution industry (Wikipedia)..
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/opinion/sison-de-criminalizing-prostitution

Responding to popular demand from regular visitors to Pampanga, community service web site ClarkPhilippines.com has added this special section to report all news and articles concerning safety, security, crime, law and order in Angeles City, Clark and other cities in Pampanga, Philippines. Those who wish to find out more about these matters can contact us by clicking on this link:

You may click here to contact the news and article editorial team of ClarkPhilippines with your request for assistance.