Stricter measures vs flesh trade in Dagupan pushed

DAGUPAN CITY — Alarmed by a television report tagging the city as the province’s "flesh trade capital," a local official is batting for the passage of an ordinance that would give more teeth to the campaign against prostitution.

Councilor Farah Marie Decano, who chairs the city council’s committee on women, children and family, cited a report from the local social welfare office showing that 60 to 65 percent of those apprehended for allegedly engaging in the flesh trade are not from this city.

Decano, a lawyer, said she was also disturbed by various text messages she had received from Dagupeños working abroad lamenting the flesh trade in the city.

She said one of the texters had informed her about a TV report sometime last August tagging Dagupan as the "prostitution capital" of the province.

Decano said she wants to discourage traffickers from plying their trade in the city by adopting stricter measures, as embodied in her proposed ordinance providing supplementary measures against prostitution.

She cited data showing that majority of those arrested for allegedly engaging in the flesh trade here had come from the southern part of the country.

Citing the anti-trafficking law, she said a trafficked woman is one who, even with her consent, is recruited, hired or transported for exploitation.

"I want to regain the lost pride of Dagupan because of that exposé in a national television show alleging that the city has become the ‘flesh trade capital’ of Pangasinan," she said.

"Has it become the ‘flesh trade capital’ instead of ‘bangus capital’?" she asked.

"Determining if the exposé is true or not is immaterial," Decano said. "Even if it is true, the proposed ordinance, which is undergoing public hearing and on the process of getting feedback from various sectors, would be remedial. If it is not true, it would be preventive."