Transexuality, a new field for sex business in RP?
by Camille le Tallec
PUERTO GALERA- Philippines- With an important gay community, the Philippines can appear as a progressive country concerning homosexuality. Philippino people even seem open-minded concerning transexuality, which is so openly practiced all around the country. Nonetheless, in some areas, as Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental, as businessmen take advantage of this phenomenon, some crucial questions should be raised.
Last Saturday, Justin Fernandez, a 28 year-old man from Batangas, decided to celebrate his birthday with his friends, exclusively men, in this happy place, “just to do something different” and “to escape from the conventional way of having fun in the city”. “Here in Puerto Galera, we feel free”, he says.
Fifteen minutes away from Puerto Galera’s main harbour, White Beach is a humble jetty flanked by a line of “restobars” and a couple of hotels. Waiting for your course ordered in one of the numerous restaurants along this beach, one can notice the original physiology of the waitresses, in spite of all their efforts to take the more flattering pose.
Observing attentively their movements made of gentle nonchalance, is the way to get the conviction that something is wrong with these ladies.
At nightfall, these poses are converted into suggesting dances around the young Philippino customers. In this favorable atmosphere made of the sound of the wave and the soft wind, and as the beers are drunk, these young men seem to have fun with the multi-talented waitresses. Noticing how close from each other they dance in the late evening, the observer must definitely feel confused.
Jose Alexander De Guzman, a young thirty-five year-old restaurant owner in White Beach, acknowledges that he “had to find new ways to attract customers”. Aware of the crucial impact of night entertainment on the success of his business, he underlines that “with no real nightlife on offer beyond sinking a few beers and watching a wall-mounted TV, this place is used to be fallen asleep by 9pm”.
Asked what happens at the end of the night, Justin replies with conviction that everybody comes back home. Asked whether they went back alone, he replies in a smile: “of course not, we all live together this week-end.”
In his opinion, the waitresses are just doing their job when they entertain customer, and they are not waiting for anything else. Nonetheless, around 4am, when the parties come to an end, customers and waitresses disappear simultaneously in a confusing mess.
Prostitution is a major social issue in the Philippines. Various estimates put the number of sex workers in the Philippines at about 400,000. Most prostitutes come from impoverished provincial families and are easy prey for the girlie bars, which take a majority cut of their earnings in exchange for bare-essential living arrangements and protection from the police.
The Philippines is one of the biggest sex-tourism destination in the world. Many tourists are single-men who visit sex-tourism hot spots like Angeles, though every big city and quite a few smaller places cater to this business.
But whereas female and child prostitution are more likely designated to sex-tourism, prostitution of transexuals appears as a typical Philippino phenomenon, and young men in the Philippines do not hesitate to enjoy their nights with such dancers. Although prostitution is officially illegal in the Philippines, here one does have to wonder, all the more since the police seem to turn a blind eye to the problem.
Last Saturday, Justin Fernandez, a 28 year-old man from Batangas, decided to celebrate his birthday with his friends, exclusively men, in this happy place, “just to do something different” and “to escape from the conventional way of having fun in the city”. “Here in Puerto Galera, we feel free”, he says.
Fifteen minutes away from Puerto Galera’s main harbour, White Beach is a humble jetty flanked by a line of “restobars” and a couple of hotels. Waiting for your course ordered in one of the numerous restaurants along this beach, one can notice the original physiology of the waitresses, in spite of all their efforts to take the more flattering pose.
Observing attentively their movements made of gentle nonchalance, is the way to get the conviction that something is wrong with these ladies.
At nightfall, these poses are converted into suggesting dances around the young Philippino customers. In this favorable atmosphere made of the sound of the wave and the soft wind, and as the beers are drunk, these young men seem to have fun with the multi-talented waitresses. Noticing how close from each other they dance in the late evening, the observer must definitely feel confused.
Jose Alexander De Guzman, a young thirty-five year-old restaurant owner in White Beach, acknowledges that he “had to find new ways to attract customers”. Aware of the crucial impact of night entertainment on the success of his business, he underlines that “with no real nightlife on offer beyond sinking a few beers and watching a wall-mounted TV, this place is used to be fallen asleep by 9pm”.
Asked what happens at the end of the night, Justin replies with conviction that everybody comes back home. Asked whether they went back alone, he replies in a smile: “of course not, we all live together this week-end.”
In his opinion, the waitresses are just doing their job when they entertain customer, and they are not waiting for anything else. Nonetheless, around 4am, when the parties come to an end, customers and waitresses disappear simultaneously in a confusing mess.
Prostitution is a major social issue in the Philippines. Various estimates put the number of sex workers in the Philippines at about 400,000. Most prostitutes come from impoverished provincial families and are easy prey for the girlie bars, which take a majority cut of their earnings in exchange for bare-essential living arrangements and protection from the police.
The Philippines is one of the biggest sex-tourism destination in the world. Many tourists are single-men who visit sex-tourism hot spots like Angeles, though every big city and quite a few smaller places cater to this business.
But whereas female and child prostitution are more likely designated to sex-tourism, prostitution of transexuals appears as a typical Philippino phenomenon, and young men in the Philippines do not hesitate to enjoy their nights with such dancers. Although prostitution is officially illegal in the Philippines, here one does have to wonder, all the more since the police seem to turn a blind eye to the problem.
