Groups alarmed by growing number of Pampanga sex workers

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Women’s groups and other sectors have expressed alarm over reports that the number of “prostituted” women in this city has soared to as much as 24,000, much higher than the estimated 5,000 to 6,000 sex workers during the time of the Americans at the former US Air Force Base at Clark Field here.

Susan Pineda, executive director and president of the Ing Makababaing Aksyon (IMA) Foundation, Inc., confirmed a report from the city health office that as many as 12,000 women are in the “entertainment” industry, mostly working at bars catering to foreign tourists along Fields Avenue parallel to the perimeter fence of the former US military base which is now Clark Free Port.

“We have a master list of these 12,000 women who are registered with the city government. The sad fact is that there are 12,000 more of them who can be classified freelance sex workers,” said Pineda.

The figures are much higher than the estimated 5,000 to 6,000 women registered to be working in the local “entertainment” industry during the era of the American military at Clark. The US military abandoned Clark in 1991 amid the pending eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. The following year, the government also scrapped the Military Bases Agreement that justified the presence of the US military bases in the country.

The so-called red light district along Fields Avenue was a creation of the “rest and recreation” needs of the Americans at Clark. But despite the departure of the Americans and the damage to properties wrought by Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption, the area survived and has even flourished.

Big money

From some 150 bars and other such establishments catering to tourists when the Americans left, the Fields Avenue area is now bustling with some 250 such establishments.

“It’s because prostitution has been institutionalized. The local government has done everything that virtually legalized prostitution because there’s big money there,” Pineda said.

Tess Sigua, executive director of the local government’s HIV/AIDS council, insisted, however, that the 12,000 women who have registered themselves with the city health office are “entertainers” and not necessarily sex workers.

She admitted there are freelance sex workers along the old government railways which is traditionally known as a red light district for locals, but she noted that their establishments are to be dismantled soon to give way to the new Caloocan-to-Clark railway system being rushed by the Arroyo administration.

Local historian Max Sangil, a member of the board of directors of the Clark Development Corp., agreed with her, saying that after the Americans left Clark, foreigners of other nationalities have taken interest in the so-called red light district by investing in tourism-related projects , such as hotels, in the area.

“Fields Avenue is Angeles’s version of Boracay without the beach and sea. It caters to all kinds of tourists, not just those hankering for sex,” Sangil said.

Pineda insisted, however, on her figures on local prostitution, as she pointed out a “big syndicate” engaged in human trafficking of local girls for prostitution abroad, particularly Malaysia.

Only recently, the National Bureau of Investigation raided five “girlie” joints in the Fields Area although some sectors said the raids, reportedly pushed by city hall, was politically motivated and was directed against Barangay Balibago chairman Tony Mamac who is running for mayor next year against incumbent Mayor Francis Nepomuceno.