ILOILO City – Ahead of Valentine’s Day, the city government’s Taskforce on Morals and Values Formation (TMVF) rounded up 40 freelance commercial sex workers – 10 males and 30 females, including a 16-year-old minor.
“Sa amo ‘ni nga sitwasyon gapasimpalad pa sila kag magrisgo dira sa tunga dalan sa pagladlad sang ila lawas,” TMVF head Nestor Canong told Panay News.
Prostitution is illegal in this city under Regulation Ordinance No. 2014-377.
Canong said they brought the flesh traders to the police station, filed a blotter report and conducted a profiling and counseling.
The lack of facility where these night workers could be remitted remains a problem, according to Canong.
“Ginpaintindi ta nga waay ta ginatolerar ang amo na klase nga obra,” Canong said.
Most of the apprehended freelancers, he added, did not have “green cards” from health authorities as a guarantee that they were free from sexually transmitted diseases.
They were also a mix of old and new sex workers, Canong said. They vowed to seek consultation in the city’s Social Hygiene Clinic.
The minor, on the other hand, was turned over to the City Social Welfare and Development Office’s Crisis Intervention Unit.
Canong acknowledged that there were gray areas in the implementation of the ordinance. Solicitation in exchange for sex is illegal yet the workers were merely told to secure “green cards.”
Meanwhile, due to economic headwinds, Canong said the sex workers shared they were being stretched to work just to put food on their plates.
“Ginasabat nila kita nga wala gid sila, kag kinahanglan (nila) himuon dala sang kapigaduhon,” said Canong.
Nevertheless, he advised them to look for alternative jobs or livelihood.
He noted that the city government has a livelihood training program for this sector supposedly to be implemented last year through the Alternative Learning System of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
However, at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, it was not implemented./PN
