The 'pros' keep coming
IMA FOUNDATION’S report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Kapampangans being smuggled out of the DMIA and forced into prostitution in Malaysia got me into an instant-recall mode.
Here is an account I filed with the Pampanga Times in its August 18-24, 1986 issue as a part of a special report of my five-month sojourn in Kuala Lumpur on a scholarship grant from the Malaysian government.
I WAS still very new in KL, one week I think, when I nearly had a brawl with a taxi driver. No, not because of the fare. Nor was it a case of miscommunication.
I was nearing my destination – a shopping complex – when the driver talked to me in bahasa Malaysia. I answered him with one of the first phrases I learned, “tidak Melayu” -- I am not Malay. I told him in English where I came from. He sneered then gave me the finger, spitting out “Filipina ladies easy fuck!”
I felt blood rushed to my face. I unbuckled my seat belt, collared him and dared him to repeat what he said. He lost his nerve, bigger as I was than him. Soon as I got off the cab, he sped away but not before I delivered a kick at his taxi. In his fright, he even forgot all about my fare. Luckily for me there was no policeman around.
There was a business boom (there still is, I presume) for Filipina prostitutes in Malaysia. I did not just hear about this. I met and talked with (no actual deals for me though) not a few of these “pros” from Manila mainly.
There was Carmela, aka Tessie, Bessie, Carmi from Pasay. She stayed for 14 days in KL hopping from one hotel to another. Her net income for a fortnight: 10,000 ringgits (P75,000) cash, designer clothes and matching bags, shoes and watches.
Mary Jane or Grace spoke very fluent English, had impeccable tastes in clothes and jewelry. She could be mistaken for a Makati account executive just vacationing in KL. She actually came from Ermita. To maintain her figure and freshness, she said she had a limit of two trysts per day. Nonetheless, her income got to 10,000 ringgits too in only 10 days.
“Quality more than makes up for quantity when it comes to customers,” she said. Grace would not go out with anyone driving a car lesser in status than a Benz 380.
Even the misfortune that befell some of those I met did not lessen the rosy impact of the flesh trade in KL.
Gigi and Annie came to KL with their Filipina mama-san. After a week of “work”, the mama-san left them, taking along their passports, return tickets and all their earnings. They came to the embassy (where I worked part-time) for travel documents then asked that they be allowed to raise money for their tickets. In six days they were able to buy their tickets, at 650 ringgits (P4,875) each and had between them 6,000 ringgits (P45,000) more.
The police crackdown in this Muslim nation, no matter how intensive has never really blunted the flesh trade. Filipinas and Thais being deported after raids in hotels have become a regular fare in newspapers. Still, they keep coming back.
Much as the authorities would like to hide the problem, prostitution exists in the country. And I mean not just that involving transient call girls. There are local pick-up girls and a well-hidden prostitution center – much like Angeles City’s “Area” – right in the heart of the old city of KL.
Taxi drivers know the place well. And they too have a price list of transients: Filipinas on top at 200 ringgits (P1,500) per hour, excluding tips; Thais at 75 ringgit (P562); Chinese locals at 65 (P487); and Indian locals at 15 (P112).
These flesh peddlers from Manila have done a lot of damage to the image of the Filipina in Malaysia. The problem is that there appears to be nothing that can be done about it. Curbing the trade, I mean.
Manila authorities cannot contain them. Any Filipina with a passport, a round-trip ticket, and $500 show money can enter Malaysia and stay for 14 days as a tourist.
The Philippine embassy cannot likewise do anything other than escort prostitutes being deported or take them out of jail and into its custody. Very few Filipinos go to the embassy. And only when they have problems with immigration.
And the Pinays in the sex trade are not a bit complaining. Even after experiencing Pudu Jail, where they are stripped to their undergarments and sleep on cold cement floors. They just look at it as part of the hazards of the trade. Deported ones keep coming back with new passports and new names.
Being called “easy lays” matters not to them. The job after all is really easy and much rewarding. What could be easier indeed than seeing KL, going to bed, then going home, tens of thousands richer?
Here is an account I filed with the Pampanga Times in its August 18-24, 1986 issue as a part of a special report of my five-month sojourn in Kuala Lumpur on a scholarship grant from the Malaysian government.
I WAS still very new in KL, one week I think, when I nearly had a brawl with a taxi driver. No, not because of the fare. Nor was it a case of miscommunication.
I was nearing my destination – a shopping complex – when the driver talked to me in bahasa Malaysia. I answered him with one of the first phrases I learned, “tidak Melayu” -- I am not Malay. I told him in English where I came from. He sneered then gave me the finger, spitting out “Filipina ladies easy fuck!”
I felt blood rushed to my face. I unbuckled my seat belt, collared him and dared him to repeat what he said. He lost his nerve, bigger as I was than him. Soon as I got off the cab, he sped away but not before I delivered a kick at his taxi. In his fright, he even forgot all about my fare. Luckily for me there was no policeman around.
There was a business boom (there still is, I presume) for Filipina prostitutes in Malaysia. I did not just hear about this. I met and talked with (no actual deals for me though) not a few of these “pros” from Manila mainly.
There was Carmela, aka Tessie, Bessie, Carmi from Pasay. She stayed for 14 days in KL hopping from one hotel to another. Her net income for a fortnight: 10,000 ringgits (P75,000) cash, designer clothes and matching bags, shoes and watches.
Mary Jane or Grace spoke very fluent English, had impeccable tastes in clothes and jewelry. She could be mistaken for a Makati account executive just vacationing in KL. She actually came from Ermita. To maintain her figure and freshness, she said she had a limit of two trysts per day. Nonetheless, her income got to 10,000 ringgits too in only 10 days.
“Quality more than makes up for quantity when it comes to customers,” she said. Grace would not go out with anyone driving a car lesser in status than a Benz 380.
Even the misfortune that befell some of those I met did not lessen the rosy impact of the flesh trade in KL.
Gigi and Annie came to KL with their Filipina mama-san. After a week of “work”, the mama-san left them, taking along their passports, return tickets and all their earnings. They came to the embassy (where I worked part-time) for travel documents then asked that they be allowed to raise money for their tickets. In six days they were able to buy their tickets, at 650 ringgits (P4,875) each and had between them 6,000 ringgits (P45,000) more.
The police crackdown in this Muslim nation, no matter how intensive has never really blunted the flesh trade. Filipinas and Thais being deported after raids in hotels have become a regular fare in newspapers. Still, they keep coming back.
Much as the authorities would like to hide the problem, prostitution exists in the country. And I mean not just that involving transient call girls. There are local pick-up girls and a well-hidden prostitution center – much like Angeles City’s “Area” – right in the heart of the old city of KL.
Taxi drivers know the place well. And they too have a price list of transients: Filipinas on top at 200 ringgits (P1,500) per hour, excluding tips; Thais at 75 ringgit (P562); Chinese locals at 65 (P487); and Indian locals at 15 (P112).
These flesh peddlers from Manila have done a lot of damage to the image of the Filipina in Malaysia. The problem is that there appears to be nothing that can be done about it. Curbing the trade, I mean.
Manila authorities cannot contain them. Any Filipina with a passport, a round-trip ticket, and $500 show money can enter Malaysia and stay for 14 days as a tourist.
The Philippine embassy cannot likewise do anything other than escort prostitutes being deported or take them out of jail and into its custody. Very few Filipinos go to the embassy. And only when they have problems with immigration.
And the Pinays in the sex trade are not a bit complaining. Even after experiencing Pudu Jail, where they are stripped to their undergarments and sleep on cold cement floors. They just look at it as part of the hazards of the trade. Deported ones keep coming back with new passports and new names.
Being called “easy lays” matters not to them. The job after all is really easy and much rewarding. What could be easier indeed than seeing KL, going to bed, then going home, tens of thousands richer?
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 2:30 PM
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