This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 2, Feb. 11-17, 2007
Special Report
Scavenging by Day,
Prostitution by Night Gone
were the days when vendors and porters of the Port of Batangas could give a
decent life to their family and send their children to college. Losing their
main source of livelihood after being ejected from their homes because of the
privatization of the Port, they turned to sex trade to earn a living - making
this a “family business.” BY
DABET CASTAÑEDA BATANGAS CITY -
Prostitution, known to be the world’s oldest profession, is new to the people
who once lived along the shores of the old Batangas Port in this city, some 111
kms. south of Manila.
Amanda (note her real
name), 48, a mamasan (pimp) born and raised in Barangay Sta. Clara, a village
just beside the old Port of Batangas (part of this village has been turned into
the port’s expansion area completed in 1999). Her parents were port vendors, she
said, and life near the port then was strenuous yet profitable. “Dati, basta
mauido ka, kikita ka” (Before, if you were aggressive in thinking of things
to sell, you would earn.), she recalls. As a teenager, Amanda
helped her parents earn a living by selling pork barbecue after school. This was
her family’s source of income when she started to raise a family of her own. She
said she used to earn at least P400 ($8.28 at today’s exchange rate of
$1=P48.305) a day then. Following then President
Corazon Aquino’s Executive Order No. 431, a part of Barangay Sta. Clara was
demolished on June 27, 1994 to give way to the expansion, modernization and
privatization of the Batangas Port.
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) opened two
relocation centers: Barangay Balete (about seven kilometers from the Batangas
Port) and Barangay Sico (about 15 kilometers from the Batangas Port). A study
made by Dr. Emma Porio for the JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation)
in 2000, “Demolition and
Resettlement of Sta. Clara Residents: Policy, Politics, and Personalities in the
Batangas Port Development Project,” revealed that Balete had an unemployment
rate of 53 percent while Sico had 43 percent. Amanda’s family was one of
192 families relocated in Sico, a vast and hilly relocation center near a dump,
overlooking the Batangas city jail. A trip to this area takes at least an hour
from the port. There are no factories or commercial centers in the area. The row
houses looked dilapidated and dim. It was deafeningly quiet when Bulatlat
visited the area on Jan. 18. Dark days Resettling at Sico spelled
doom for Amanda’s family. With no jobs available, Amanda said, her family set up
a small convenience store. In a year’s time, their small business went bankrupt
because of unpaid debts from neighbors and relatives. With no other means of
income, Amanda started trading girls for sex. “Bumaba uli ako sa pier. Dun
ako humawak ng mga babae,” (I went back to the pier and peddled
prostitutes.), she said. She said she gets a cut of
P50 ($1.035) from a girl who, in turn, gets P300 to P500 ($6.21 to $10.35) for
every. With the port turned from an inter-island, domestic port to an
international cargo port, they began to cater to foreign seamen. At first, she said, the
girls she handled came from the provinces of Samar, Cavite, Iloilo, Cebu and
even Manila. But as poverty spread among the former port dwellers relocated in
Balete and Sico, Amanda said girls from the relocation sites started working as
prostitutes as well. Family business One of those lured into
prostitution is Sandy (not her real name), Amanda’s niece.
A former barbecue and balut
(boiled duck eggs) vendor, Sandy, now 42, started “going out” with her patrons
barely a year after their community was demolished. “Bata pa ako nun, may
itsura, kaya ayun” (I was still young then and pretty.), she kidded.
She said she
only catered to foreign patrons, “kasi hindi sila maarte kausap.”
(Because it is not difficult to deal with them) Sandy said she earns $50 to $100
for every customer but would only get half of it because she had to give a cut
to her mamasan, to the ship operator, and to Customs officials. “Naku,
ligal na ligal ang pagho-hostess dito. Biruin mo, pati Customs
nakikinabang,” (Prostitution is legal here. Even Customs officials benefit
from it.), she said. On peak
seasons such as Christmas and Holy Week, she would have three to four patrons a
night. “Hanggat merun, sige lang ng sige,” she said, “hindi ko naman
ginagawa ito para magpasarap lang.” (While there is a customer, I go on and
on. I am not doing this to enjoy.) Sandy has
three children to feed, she said, and her husband has left them for good. She
spends P500 ($10.35) every month for rent because she sold the rights to her lot
at the relocation center. “Gusto ko sana
mamasukan kasi madami din naman akong alam bukod sa humilata sa kama kaya lang
walang mapasukang trabaho dito,” (I would have wanted to work because I have
a lot of skills aside from lying in bed, but there is no work here.), she added.
Sandy said she
has now turned into being a mamasan (pimp) to earn a living, a job she
shares with her 68-year-old mother, Belinda (not her real name). “Syempre,
tumatanda na ako, nababawasan na ng customer. Pero minsan, pag may nago-offer
sinusunggaban ko na rin para mas malaki ang kita” (Of course, I am
getting old so my customers are fewer now. But sometimes if there is an offer I
still take it to earn more.), she explains. Days when
there are no customers, Sandy said, her mother would scavenge scrap materials at
the nearby dump and sell these to the nearest junkshop. The small earnings from
junk could at least provide them a meal, Sandy said. “Pwede na
rin pantawid gutom,” (Just to tide us over the hunger.), she said as she
shrugs her shoulders. Bulatlat © 2007 Bulatlat
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Conclusion
Bulatlat