US ambassador urged to back up claims on sex tourism

MANILA, Philippines - Senators challenged the data on sex tourism recently cited by United States Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. and challenged the envoy to back up his statement with solid proof.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said that Thomas should issue a clarification at the very least, just in case he was misquoted regarding the number of tourists entering the country for sex.

“He should at least clarify if he was misquoted by media for issuing that statement. Otherwise, he should apologize to the Filipino people or pack his bags and go home for being tactless, offensive, and undiplomatic,” Lacson said.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that while it is true that there are tourists that visit the country looking for sex, he does not believe the statistics given by Thomas were correct.

In a recent speech, Thomas claimed that around 40 percent of men who visit the Philippines are after sex tourism.

His statement was challenged by various sectors including Malacañang and the Department of Tourism.

“I hope the American ambassador could clarify his statement and explain where he got the statistics. We’re not denying that there are American men who come to the Philippines to enjoy their lives because Filipinas are attractive, but I don’t think his statistics are correct,” Enrile said.

“There are also many foreigners going to America to have sex with American girls and American boys. So, it works both ways. Even Filipinos go there to enjoy the beauty of American women,” he added.

However, Enrile said that Thomas should explain his statement very well because it inevitably hurt the sensibilities of many Filipinos.

“If I were Ambassador Thomas, I would think about what I said because if we probably said the same thing about his country, he would also be insulted,” Enrile said.

Senator Franklin Drilon also disputed the statement made by Thomas, which he said has not been backed up by any concrete data.