Sabado Night: Encounters in the Dark

By Jefferson B. Magbanua WHAT WAS EXPECTED to be unusual by many seemed ordinary for me. This was my general sentiment after our nine-hour exposure trip for the course Gender Issues and Concerns on May 12. I felt such way because the harsh and sometimes (read: irreversible) realities that we (my classmates and I) have seen, listened to and touched were exactly what were depicted in mainstream movies, indie films and teleseryes. Another factor that made me feel considerably unsurprised and to an extent, numb, is the fact that Ive immersed myself with various types of people and settings from the elite Lopezes and Cachos to former college schoolmates who were prostituites. Thats why the stories of commercial sex workers, no matter how seemingly moving they are, no longer spark my interest. The Saturday night trip did not result to new revelations to me; it rather affirmed by preconceived notions and earlier encounters with men and women in the dark. Prior to going to an exposure trip with my classmates in M.A. in Social Science on the abovementioned date, Ive probed on the responses of the interviewees (a male and female commercial sex worker) that we had for our Sociology of Deviant Behavior class. I did so because I was tasked to edit the manuscript of our paper on prostitution. There were several similarities on the answers of subjects: First, they said that they engaged in prostitution because of financial problems; secondly, they believed that prostitution is the only means for them to gain easy money; and lastly, they came from dysfunctional families. Having this set of replies, I had the goal to validate the answers of our respondents during the scheduled exposure tour. As expected, my classmates and I gathered the same answers from other commercial sex workers in Arroyo and Mabini Streets (freelancers), Casa-based ones in Tanza, and those in the bars in downtown Iloilo. But let us examine the various cases and the contents of the answers of each of our Sabado Night interviewees in order to construct or deconstruct ideas. Our first destination was Arroyo Street wherein bistros and sidewalk drinking stalls are located. It was not the first time Ive passed by the area and once again, I saw these women young and old sitting beside old men who drown themselves in liquor. Women as young as roughly 15 years old can be seen in the dark area, trying to lure drunk men with their sexual charm and femininity. Since we were dressed in clothes which were somewhat unfitting for the place, we decided to sit down in one nearby area and interviewed two female freelance sex workers who looked like they are in their 30s. Sir Eugene bought two bottles of San Miguel Light for him and sir Edison. I didnt drink

liquor because I wanted to stay focused on the academic objectives for that night. When asked whether they have families of their own already, one of the subjects admitted that she already has a daughter but her husband and other family members dont know what she does for a living. She furthered that they (the family members) already have an idea about her being a sex worker but she didnt end up with a confrontation with them. She firmly justified her engagement in commercial sex with money reasons. Wala man ko ubra sa Guimaras teh nag-amo na lang ako sini para may kwarta, she said. When questioned whether she would allow her daughter to engage in the same business in the future, that woman said no. But judging from her half-hearted way of answering, facial gestures and the trend in families wherein the parent is a sex worker, I fear that she may be the one to force her daughter to enter the dirty business. Engaging in commercial sex work, says Mrs. Virginia Advincula of the Process Panay Foundation, Inc. (a non-governmental organization that addresses the needs of commercial sex workers in Western Visayas), is like an infectious syndrome. Once you get in, you would feel that theres no way going out, Advincula said, adding, Kaya `yung mga nanay na dating sex worker often end up as pimps kapag tumanda na, pushing their daughters to the work. What Advincula tries to imply is that daughters or sons of ex-prostitutes are forced in or swallowed by the commercial sex system through their parent/s, often leaving them with no personal choices to take. Rather, the direction which the ex-prostitute parent/s impose on their children become the norm, the only action to do, in fact. After a class C setting that was Arroyo Street, we rode in the jeepney that we rented to proceed to a class D location: Mabini Street. Just like Arroyo, Mabini Street is a haven of freelance sex workers. The difference, however, is that the sex workers in Arroyo Street can be easily identified with green cards but those in Mabini Street seemed less monitored. In terms of the physical appearance of the locale, you cannot see tables and chairs arranged to be drinking areas. Rather, all you can see in Mabini (which is just near home) are the pimps a transvestite and a 34 year-old woman whom we shall call L. I got to talk to L and I asked her what motivated her to engage in prostitution. She gave an answer different from the freelancer in Arroyo Street but similar to our earlier subjects for Prof. Cocjins class: her family. L, who had her first sexcapade as a commercial sex worker at age 18, shared that her parents had always been so strict and that they physically and emotionally hurt her when she was younger. Even when her parents were angry at her siblings, it was her whom they hurt. In 1995, she started engaging in the business after she left their house. Since then, she didnt

hear about her parents, except a few feeds from their ex-neighbours in Molo. She even curses her parents, saying, Ambot kung san-o pa na sila iya mapatay man. As interviewer, I felt that she was only being defensive, trying to justify her personal choices. This is what the dissonance theory in sociology advocates after all that people tend to justify or rationalize their action even if it is practically incorrect based on unbiased standards. But of course, I wouldnt be able to tell whether what came out from her mouth was truth because I only heard one side of the story. I havent met her parents and others who know her better. Furthermore, L said that she already has a son and that she only serves as a pimp in the area to her so-called friends who sell their bodies for money. However, she was fast to admit that there are guests, as she called them, who insist to have sex with her and she never turns them down. L explained that the transactions happen between the guests and her sex worker friends then she is the one who collects the money, employing the money down or money first policy. She earns from being a pimp. In deals amounting to P300, she gets P100. If the amount agreed upon by the client and sex worker is P500, she gets P150. She added that peak seasons for her pimp sales are during the highlight of the Dinagyang festivities, wherein many foreigners and locals visit the area. She revealed that their guests vary in terms of economic status from construction workers to government employees (those from Council on Moral Values and Task Force Adams Apple included) to soon-to-belawyers. What alarmed me here is not the poor hygiene in the area that makes the guests susceptible to diseases, but the idea that those who are supposed to implement the government goals on monitoring sex workers are the very people who engage in the said business. This incidence, if continued, will result to failures in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV. It will also be a negative point in the reputation and credibility of the said government agencies, leaving the general public with doubts in their capacities to effectively monitor the practices of the sex workers in the city. The City Mayors office should be advised to have a sort of filtering scheme in the councils and committees that it forms, so that when a pool of people are proven to be ineffective over a period of time, they can be easily replaced with good reason. After a 15-minute stop-over at Mabini Street, we went to a boarding house in Tanza, which in fact, was a hidden casa accommodating 10 female commercial sex workers from Negros Occidental. Based on the appearance of the house, it really looked like a class B boarding house for me, with matching red, yellow and green lights outside. There seems to be a connection between colourful lights and commercial sex. When we pressed the doorbell, an apparently gay man with long hair opened the door

for us. I believe that was his role in the house. Just seconds after we were seated, four women went downstairs. What was amazing is that two of these women have prominent Spanish-Turkish mestiza looks. The venue seemed rather homely for us to throw questions as we were seated with them in the living room. In effect, we were not able to focus our questions. Judging from their responses, the sense that I got was this: They didnt come from dysfunctional families and they didnt have much financial problems. They are just women who have eyes and cravings for luxury and they have seen engaging in commercial sex as the easiest way to earn. In fact, they have SSS and PhilHealth accounts and they earn more than some of us do. Their beautiful skin and faces are properly maintained; they are beauty-conscious. One thing that they admit though is that they still desire to go back to school, alternative schools preferably, in order to finish with college degrees. I felt that they are secured women, especially when they said that their pimp would go anywhere just to fetch them when necessary (such as when they are maltreated or harassed by their clients, among other cases of necessity). Our so-journ continued with the bars Paraiso and the girls bar on the first floor of that building (we didnt know the name of the girls bar because it didnt have a sign board in its entrance). When had a free entrance in those bars. When we got in Paraiso, only a few people were there despite the supposedly peak season on Saturday nights, as sir Jonathan would say. Men in black sando and boxers stormed the stage doing macho dancing. Judging from the faces of these men dancing erotically to the tune of some Filipino and English love songs, I could see that theyre looking up so as not to get distracted and they do not enjoy what theyre doing. To this, sir Edison commented, The next time nga mabati-an mo ang mga love song nga ini, lain na gasulod sa pinsar mo. Yes, theres indeed a possibility of wrongly associating this supposedly wholesome songs with macho dancing. Come to think of it, the likes of Mahal Pa Rin Kita by Rockstar are being played in Paraiso and Im a big fan of OPM. In between some performances, gay entertainers did the lip synch. Marjorie and I were bored to death not until a gay performer in white bridal gown did an exaggerated lip synch number. We enjoyed his scandalous facial expressions which reminded me of Sukob and Chuckies Bride but I tried to suppress my laughter because he might be insulted. Sir Edison couldnt take what sights in Paraiso. While we were trying to observe what the macho dancers were and the customers were doing, we didnt notice that sir Ed already went downstairs to our next destination: the girls bar.

With Maam Virgie, we went to the girls bar and to our surprise, sir Edison was already with a bar girl, drinking a bottle of San Miguel Light. The woman he was with for the whole night was actually pretty, long-haired and demure type, although a bit voluptuous. The manager of the bar ushered us (minus sir Ed who was seated on a separate table with the female entertainer) in and allowed us to seat in the frontmost. When we were seated, theres this beautiful young lady who is in her early 20s who went up the stage and did the sexy pole dancing. The pole was just about a meter away from where I was seated so I saw everything her flawless skin, well-chiselled jaw line, nice nose, hair dyed brown and expensive braces. Unlike other GROs in the area, her body was leaner and she isnt flabby. In fact, she (whose name we didnt know) reminded me of my former colleague in the USA Publications who was a campus crush. When she went down the stage, the lights went dinner and she rode in a young male customer, opened her bra and did flipped her hair a very obscene scene for me. She was given P100, if Im not mistaken. I pity her. I pity her because she engaged in the business at a rather young age that despite her beautiful physical appearance. She could have worked in somewhere decent but to me, she somehow projected the image of a woman who lusts for extravagance. Hence, the easy big money she earns from being a GRO/commercial sex worker. I also pity her because she allowed herself to be abused. Unlike the men in Paraiso who were simply going to customers for a drink worth P250, this women in the girls bar have to seduce men to earn money. Their practices, such as the flipping of the hair, leaning to the male customers (such as the case of the GRO with sir Edison) are but signs that theyre open for just anything. The public display affection that these women are up to is very intense to the point that some of them are already exchanging saliva with the male customers in despite the bright glittering lights. They didnt mind. But I did. Add to this the excessive smoking of both men and women in the area which maam Virgie and I couldnt stand. I got mild asthma attacks that night due to second-hand smoking. Marjorie and I were actually waiting for the striptease for some girls to get naked for us to see the reaction of the crowd. This was our intention because we were thrilled with the fact that good stage performers of the night were thrown bills not lower than P50. We would want to see whether men who are not in table dates with the GROs would do the same to throw money to the naked woman performer on stage (as if she were a child). But some of our colleagues insisted to go back to Paraiso to interview the macho dancers and see for ourselves the male all-the-way show (sic). We were somehow forced to go upstairs, not seeing the female striptease.

When we got in Paraiso again, Marjorie and I cannot contain our inhibitions and to this we told our classmates who would want to interview a male dancer, You will still get the same responses. Magastuhan lang kamo. But it was all right for them so maam Anne, Anangel, Lurry, Knitz and sir Eugene did the interview. Sir Edison was left behind in the girls bar because no matter how much prodding we did, he insisted that hed stay. Makes me recall the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. Anyway, so Recel, Marjorie and I were seated on a separate row. After 10 minutes of boredom, theres this guy with Manny Pacquaio get-up with hood who went up the stage and showed off his genitals. I told Marj, So? Its like I can see that every day. This guy suddenly went down the stage and approached customers, making his penis rub the clothes of some guests. This included Lurry Clare, sir Eugene and Recel. They reacted with disgust, turning their backs and telling the man to stop. After the very off live show, I told Marjorie, Teh tapos na ang gusto nila makita. Lakat na kita. And, so, we went downstairs. Again, without sir Edison. But sir Eugene fetched him and asked him to go down with us. When we were already in the street, sir Jonathan told us that he told the man in Paraiso to go all-the-way-down and that the man complained because my classmates didnt give them money or tip. Lurry felt guilty that she wanted to go up and give the man his monetary due. To this, Marj responded, Indi ka man obliged nga hatagan na sila. I agree with Marj. After all, our goal of going to the place was for educational purposes. But, in fact, you dont need to see the all-the-way show to be educated about commercial sex workers, neither to appreciate nor feel for them. When one meets their kind in normal days and has talked to them, he becomes oriented with their story. This is true to my case. The exposure trip was not much of an eye-opener for me. Rather, it was one Sabado night affirming my notions and enriching my encounters with men and women in the dark.