US envoy won't apologize

MANILA, Philippines - United States Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. has rejected calls for him to apologize over remarks that 40 percent of male tourists in the Philippines are only after sex with local women and children.

“I’m not going to apologize. I will never apologize for trying to combat child sex. I will never apologize for trying to combat children being forced to labor. I will never apologize for trying to help children in Smokey Mountain,” Thomas said in an interview in his Forbes Park residence in Makati City Thursday evening.

He maintained that he based his assertion on records on the sex trade and child trafficking culled by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Thomas has drawn flak for his comments from some politicians, including Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Miriam Santiago.

“He should at least clarify if he was misquoted by the 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.

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

But Thomas insisted he was not misquoted by the media.

“What is offensive? Is that statement offensive or is the child sex offensive? And why was it offensive?” Thomas asked critics.

He said what’s offensive is children being forced to work as house helpers or women being forced into prostitution.

He cited the rescue of around 100 local girls last year as proof of the prevalence of the sex trade and human trafficking in the country.

He said the US government has deployed FBI agents in the country to work with the NBI in going after individuals engaged in pedophilia and cybersex.

“There are people who could have come here and engaged in sex with underage children and videotaped these. While those DVDs have been burned here and in the US, we will help prosecute them if they are caught. And that’s why we are training the NBI,” Thomas said. 

No data

But the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has jurisdiction over the NBI, denied it was in possession of data supporting Thomas’ claims.

“What, we’re a country of sex workers? Don’t all countries have a certain industry engaged in prostitution? But to say there’s that much here, I really don’t know. We can always ask the ambassador to explain the basis of that pronouncement,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said.

She called Thomas’ remarks “certainly offensive and demeaning to the image of the nation.”

De Lima revealed that she had already asked Thomas in a letter last Monday to make a clarification.

“It is in this connection that we respectfully request Your Excellency for confirmation of the accuracy of the said news reports, and for the data which provided the basis for the information,” De Lima said in her letter.

“These would go a long way in assisting us in determining with dispatch the investigative and prosecutorial action required,” she said.

“I am confident that Your Excellency is aware that the policies and operations of the Philippine government, including our active participation in international efforts to combat trafficking in persons, have amply demonstrated our determination to prevent, prosecute, and punish the commission of this crime,” she added. The DOJ chief has yet to receive a reply from the US embassy.

“As far as I know, the DOJ does not gather or collate statistics on sex tourists. We don’t have anything like that,” De Lima said.

The DOJ supervises the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), the primary government body against human trafficking.

“I don’t recall anything or any statistics that the DOJ or IACAT has prepared,” De Lima said.

“At this point, I can say the information did not come from us,” she said.

Thomas made the statement in a roundtable discussion among Court of Appeals justices last month.

At a Senate hearing last Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario quoted Thomas as saying that he got the information from the DOJ.

The government has intensified its campaign against human trafficking, according to IACAT head and Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar.

Santiago, meanwhile, called Thomas’ remarks “undiplomatic.”

“I would in the first instance investigate what is his basis for saying that, whether that is a personal opinion or whether it is verifiable or quantifiable,” Santiago said.

She mentioned the controversy over the US ambassador’s remarks in her speech before members of the diplomatic community yesterday.

She made light of the issue by relating a tale of a genie showing more eagerness in granting her wish for peace in the Middle East than in helping her “change the habit of certain diplomats talking about sex tourism in my country.”

“And the genie said, Well you know diplomats sometimes, they have a tendency to speak out of touch with reality. So the genie continued, why don’t you just go back to the problem of peace in the Middle East. I think we can negotiate that matter,” she said in jest. With Marvin Sy