Prostitution is illegal in the Philippines?
[QUOTE=ThatGuy865; 1443471]First off. Prostitution is [B]ILLEGAL[/B] In the PI. In any shape or form. At any age. This is a serious catholic country. They just started teaching sex ed in school. As the catholic church was able to prevent it from passing in the pass.
In Jan 2013 They passed new broad based "[url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url]" Laws which now state MANY offenses that the bars engage in are considered "[url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url]" offenses and a non-bailable.
The difference between past raids and now. The mamasans and Bar managers who are caught are NOT being released and facing "[url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url]" charges. All 3 bars raided. Still have people in jail. Without bail.
And no one wants to spend time in a PI jail. So its understandable B0 / BM are a bit nervous.
The Mayor has stated. NO Bar Fines permitted. And raid will persist until its understood.
Now if anyone thinks the bars contribute too much money to the economy. They got rid of the Military. And it contributed way more. To many more Filippino's. And the city survived.[/QUOTE]I did not know this. And, I find it of concern because I have a rule not to break any laws when traveling outside of the USA. Although, I have broken this rule on some occasions (for example, the Termas in Rio are actually illegal brothels, even though paying a woman for sex is not illegal. But paying the house is quite illegal there) , but I certainly think I have never really broken the spirit of the law!
That being said, the DIA approach works effortlessly in the Phils, so bar fines are largely irrelevant there. I have barfined two girls and picked up one girl from Burgos street in my two trips to Manila. Who would have know this was illegal behavior? I will certainly never barfine again (waste of money, in my opinion. All ones needs to do is set up something with a Tagged or DIA girl in advance. Why give the bar 2000-4000 pesos? I prefer to give my money to the girl).
The DIA girls would have been happy with nothing, as long as I was interested in becoming their boyfriend or husband. DISCLAIMER: I was never interested in a long term relationship (and I told them this). They have always left my hotel with money in their pockets. This is clearly legal, even in the USA.
That being said, it would greatly surprise me if the authorities can really stop, or even effectively control, open prostitution in the Philippines. These campaigns always seem to be due to some self-righteous mayor (for example, the last Mayor of Sao Paulo hated the boites. Of course, he was gay, which made his stance a bit suspicious) , but the Mayor is usually, in the end, not very effective.
My conclusion: I love the Philippines, and think that open paid sex will continue to be a reality there for a long while. And, the semi-pro scene beats every country I have visited, although the Dominican Republic is not very different.