Letter to the Editor — Dr. Bullecer, spas must be raided, too!

The recent raid at Naughty Ka last month seems to have created no stir in Cebu's vibrant sex industry. The verdict: Naughty Ka is an isolated case, a victim of selective persecution. I'm no apologist of gay bars, but at least there, one is assured of no actual sex as the spectacle is for all to see. In Cebu, so far, no gay bar has dared present a live sex act wherein ejaculatory masturbation, fellatio, and coitus are performed in a public show.

The spas in Cebu, however, enjoy a reputation among the local and visiting gay community as "hot and spicy". Ask around discreetly and you'll be given a list of spas beginning with the letters "A" to "Z". A balikbayan friend found this out on his own by a simple query and was referred to a midtown spa where he was given "extra service" after his massage.

It is an open secret among gay businessmen and professionals that for safe quickie sex one can go to practically any massage parlor in the metro and have their pleasure in the curtained privacy of their cubicles for the price of P100 to P500 masquerading as "tips." Management and clients don't seem to mind what goes on within as long as it means money for the owners, money to the masseurs, and orgasms for the customers.

The illicit activities in spas get a boost from the country's campaign to parade Cebu and other cities as wellness tourism centers. Cebu alone has a very strong association of spa owners and this helps protect the goings-on in the spas from prying eyes. Unlike the unorganized gay bars (only three in the whole Cebu) the spas are plentiful and enjoy a voice. Media itself may have compromised itself by accepting advertising from these spas-cum-sex dens.

Check out the facts. The really exploited figure in these spas are the masseurs. For one, in spite of their constant contact with sex-starved "patients" they get no weekly "hygiene" from the city health that the macho dancer has to go through at his own expense (or he doesn't get to dance that week).

Like macho dancers, masseurs are from marginal families. They badly need jobs where no diplomas are required. But these jobs offered at the spas are illusory. Practically all spas pay their masseurs on a commission basis only. They don't help shoulder their so-called employees' SSS, Philhealth, etc. Few masseurs have the foresight to register as "self-employed individuals".

Although masseurs earn tax-free commissions ranging from P50 to P100 per service, they can only do so much in a day knowing the physical nature of their jobs. There are also days when a masseur has no customer, but only very few spas care to give an allowance, and when they do P75 per day is average.

Thus, in an industry where there are no paid sick- and vacation-leaves and where competition is stiff, a masseur has to resort to do "extra service" ranging from hand jobs to getting himself used sexually. Many gay businessmen and professionals with disposable income sense the masseur's need and happily take advantage of the situation.

We enjoin Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer, Cebu's champion of morality, to take a bold step and take on the powerful spa industry to shape up or ship out. We don't want to be known as the "Sex-wellness Capital of Asia" after the ASEAN Summit, would we? Police decoys spread around the city unannounced over a period and at regular intervals will surely net sexual offenders for the long arms of the law.

Liberals might scream that the sex going-on in these spas are consensual, but the money that later changes hands simply means one thing: Prostitution!

Manny Camara-Gumban
Sto. Niño Village
Banilad, Cebu City