Olongapo goes after bold shows, but civic groups want action vs prostitution

OLONGAPO CITY - The local government here formed a composite team to enforce a 12-year-old ordinance prohibiting indecent acts in public places, but civic groups called for tough action against the city’s rampant prostitution. Last November 12, Olongapo City Mayor James Gordon Jr signed Executive Order 67 forming a team of local government offices and the local police chief to check on entertainment businesses and enforce City Ordinance No. 28, Series of 1995, that prohibited indecent acts in public places. The issuance of Executive Order 67 came on the heels of an Anti-Prostitution ordinance passed by the City Council on October 18 and was signed into law by Gordon three weeks later. The law aims to eliminate prostitution and penalize perpetrators and patrons of prostitution in the city. But cause-oriented groups said that the city should put up a task force against prostitution, instead of a team to enforce an ordinance that was enacted 12 years ago. Alma Bulawen, executive director of Buklod, welcomed Executive Order 67 but urged authorities to do more by stamping out prostitution. Buklod - a non-government organization that helps former prostitutes, together with the Peoples Recovery, Empowerment and Development Assistance (PREDA) Foundation, Social Action Center, San Lorenzo Ruiz Lay Leaders and the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) – urged local legislators to add more teeth to the Anti-Prostitution ordinance. Bulawen, an admitted former prostitute in the late 1980s, said that many clubs and videoke bars here offer sex for sale to their customers. It was during the 1980s that Olongapo City was branded as “Sin City," where American military personnel frequented Magsaysay Drive, the city’s red light district, for rest and recreation. To the locals, rest and recreation for US personnel meant alcohol and sex. Bulawen added that the Task Force, headed by the Ferdie Margata, city administrator, should also include members of the civic organizations. Magrata for his part said that prior to the issuance of this Exec. Order 67, they have been receiving reports from civic oriented organizations, some parents and some students “na may mga reported lewd show and bold shows sa Olongapo. These are to be validated." “The prostitution problem is not with the shows but with the VIP rooms. We don’t know what is happening inside those VIP rooms. Even the internet café have private rooms, that is why we closed some of them," Magrata According to the city business permit and licensing division, there are 70 to 80 registered businesses engaged in entertainment, with another 40 to 50 illegally operating. But Magrata said that the mandate of the Task Force is against lewd and indecent shows. As such, they plan to organize the establishments and set up criteria as to determine what is the threshold of a lewd show from a regular show. “In the absence of any specific parameters kung ano talaga ang lewd shows, we are going to put up our own standards that they should not violate," Magrata said. - John Bayarong, GMANews.TV