Letter to the Editor – Sex tourism and the ASEAN Summit

The scene was innocuous enough. In one of the classrooms at a local university recently a group of young individuals, selected for their personality and brains, were attending a special workshop. The purpose was to train the young people to be ushers/guides for the forthcoming ASEAN Summit in December. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until a lady from a state university was asked by the female facilitator about what one should answer the delegates and/or their party if asked where Cebu's red light district is. The would-be-usherette hesitated and answered that she would not dignify the question. The facilitator retorted that one should answer: "You should tell them where it is!"

Of course, the young lady has had second thoughts in joining as one of the ushers/guides, and has intimated her plight to our media source. We perfectly understand her dilemma, as well as, the futility of her idealism.

As we write, a liaison committee has allegedly been formed to invite commercial sex workers from neighboring provinces to come to Cebu and fill-in the projected demand for sex-related services surrounding the summit. Red light districts are realities in cities like Cebu, but the question now is, does one need to endorse them in the light of such an international event? Or are we just being naive?

Gavin Sanson Bagares
[email protected]