Here is an article in today's SCMP about the alleged sex trade in the Philippines. I
highlighted the funny bits of this article. I don't remember if there was a box for me to check that I was visiting the Philippines for its sex trade! I also include today's editorial cartoon, Harry's View.
The link for this article :
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=f4a5947daf0a2310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=asia%20world&s=news
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Manila takes issue with claims of sex tourism
US envoy says 40 per cent of men who visit the Philippines indulge in the trade, but top official says the country is a wholesome holiday destination
PHILIPPINES
Raissa Robles in Manila
Sep 26, 2011
It's a seedy little drawcard that won't be found on a travel brochure - come to the Philippines for cheap sex.
Comments by the top US envoy that 40 per cent of men who visit the nation are sex tourists have provoked a robust defence by tourism officials of their country being a wholesome holiday destination.
Click here to find out more!
US ambassador Harry Thomas told a forum of Filipino judges and officials last week that corrupt officials were involved in a very visible sex trade, and he challenged the legal profession to eliminate the scourge.
He highlighted a string of karaoke bars and clubs on Roxas Boulevard, one of Manila's main roads on which the US embassy is also located, alleging they were sex establishments.
New tourism chief Ramon Jimenez took issue with the diplomat, pointing to data from immigration and passenger exit surveys that showed no tourists admitting to having sex holidays. Instead, responses showed visitors indulged in shopping (75 per cent), sightseeing (30 per cent) and visiting friends and relatives (11 per cent).
"A lot of men go everywhere hoping to find sex. The question you have to ask is, do they get it [in Manila]?" he said. "We don't believe in sex tourism at all ... our message to everyone [is], if you are coming here for what the good ambassador said, we don't want your business."
Prostitution is illegal in the Philippines but the sex trade flourishes in many urban areas, including Manila, Cebu and Angeles City - where girlie bars sprung up to cater to US servicemen at former US military bases.
There is also a growing problem of cyber sex dens in which women perform acts for internet clients. Police have raided dozens of the dens and found under-age girls.
A 2009 US embassy cable leaked by WikiLeaks said "child sex tourism continues to be a serious problem for the Philippines" with male tourists mainly from Japan, South Korea, Europe and North America.
In the mid-80s, the government of Ferdinand Marcos secretly encouraged sex tours from Japan to Cebu.
At the weekend, deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte conceded that male foreigners were coming for sex but said the government was working to prevent sex trafficking. She said the US State Department had removed the Philippines from its anti-trafficking "tier two" watch list after prosecutors got 29 convictions against traffickers in a 12-month period, after having had only 30 convictions from 2005 to last year.
Thomas praised the Philippines for boosting efforts against human trafficking but stressed that more had to be done and pledged US help.
The US embassy in Manila declined to comment on what evidence Thomas based his comments on. However, his remarks may have been prompted by reports from non-government organisations working to stop rampant child sex tourism.
Dolores Alforte, who heads the Manila branch of the international anti-child trafficking group Ecpat, said in an appeal uploaded on YouTube: "It is estimated that 40 per cent of male foreign visitors coming to the Philippines are sexual exploiters. They can be professionals or ordinary men travelling. But when they are offered, they tend to accept the offer for experience."
"The Philippines is very beautiful ... has so many things to offer. But in as much as children are already being offered, I hope you will not accept the offer when you come to the country," she said.
Alforte has previously put the blame on desperate, poverty-stricken parents pimping their own children.
She cited a 2003 case where a Caucasian man fondled an 11-year-old Filipino girl travelling with him on a flight from Cebu to Manila. The crew called police and he was arrested after arriving in Manila. But he had to be released after the girl's mother said she too was on the plane and saw nothing.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
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Last edited by doghead at 26-9-2011 12:34 ]
