LEGAL WRITING

LLB 136N

UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS

MAY 2019

LEGAL ESSAY

ROCHELLE ANN P. REYES

EH 306

ATTY. JOAN DYMPHNA AMIT

 DECRIMINALIZING PROSTITUTION
IN THE PHILIPPINES

INTRODUCTION

Philippines have a lot of places that tourists can visit and

stay. Philippines offer a lot of beautiful beaches which foreigners
love. Prostitution is acquired the title of “one of the oldest professions
in the world” regardless of the implementation of laws in different
countries preventing consenting adults from engaging in sex-trade
industry. Prostitution is defined as the act or practice of engaging in
promiscuous sexual relations especially for money. 1 In the
Philippines, prostitution is a crime and prostitutes are held liable
under Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

Decriminalizing and legalizing prostitution has benefits

and advantage not just to the prostitutes but also to the government.
If prostitution will be legalized, the sex trade industry will be
controlled and regulated by the government. The rights of the
prostitutes will now be protected under the law. In decriminalizing
prostitution, the State will not just benefit but will be obligated to
respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights of prostitutes. State as
parens patriae must intervene in this sex trade industry. The
government can generate tax revenue in legalizing the industry. The
sex industry will be treated like any other business. The society can
benefit as well. There must be a policy or law removing criminal
penalties for prostitution and in support of sexual freedom among
consenting adults in private.

1Merriam-Webster Dictionary, https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/prostitution
 State as parens patriae shall interfere in sex trade industry
by making laws and regulation providing guidelines in prostitution
and decliminalizing prostitution. Parens patriae means, under
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the state in its capacity as the legal
guardian of persons not sui juris and without natural guardians, as
the heir to persons without natural heirs, and as the protector of all
citizens unable to protect themselves. Decriminalizing prostitution
does not mean legalizing child sex workers. Legalization of
prostitution will only cover men and women of age and voluntarily
engages in sex industry. People have fundamental right to choose
with whom and how they have sex.

Under Article 202 of the RPC, prostitutes are women who

habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct for
money or profit. Laws have represented one of the most direct forms
of discrimination against women. The woman who engages in
prostitution is punished criminally and stigmatized socially while her
male customer, either by the explicit design of the statute or through
a pattern of discriminatory enforcement is left unscathed.2 It should
be noted that not only women are engaged in this industry but also
men. These prostitutes voluntarily engaged themselves in this sex-
trade industry. Sex tourism is the third-highest money-making
industry in the Philippines.3 We cannot deny its existence and the
effects it has. Prostitution, nowadays, does not just accommodate
men but also women. Sex workers are women, men and
transgendered people who receive money or goods in exchange for
sexual services, and who consciously define those activities as income
generating even if they do not consider sex work as their occupation.4
Prostitution can now be done online.

There are three kinds of prostitutes in the Philippines: 1)

those that work out of “casas,” or brothels, and are employed by
pimps or brothel owners: 2) those who work in bars, karaokes and
hotels, who are usually controlled by the owners of the establishment
where they work; and 3) freelancers, who work the streets. Brothels
are often disguised as restaurants.5

2 Should prostitution be legal?” <https://prostitution.procon.org/view.answers.

php?questionID=001315>
3 Hays, Jeffrey. “PROSTITUTION IN THE PHILIPPINES”. 2008.

<http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6e/entry-3895.html>
4 Overs, Cheryl.”SEX WORKERS : PART OF THE SOLUTION”. 2002
5 Hays, Jeffrey. “PROSTITUTION IN THE PHILIPPINES”. 2008.

<http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6e/entry-3895.html>
 In legalizing prostitution, the government can provide
health service and care to the prostitutes in order to prevent the
people from acquiring Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs),
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or AIDS. The Department of
Health and the Philippine National AIDS Council conducted with the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations
Programme a review on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in the Philippines.
However, living in a judgmental world even the Philippines was
named as one of the Most Racist Countries in the World from the
World Value Survey. The prostitutes would be hesitant to go to
health centers and have them checked and examined for other people
will judge them in an instant. Penalizing prostitution makes it worst.
The prostitutes are just any regular worker or laborer who perform
acts and/or work and get paid for said labor. Unprotected
commercial sex is has a significant role in many HIV epidemics. Asia
Pacific Network of Sex Workers and the Alliance are producing a
multi-media pack of Making Sex Work Safe for use by sex work
projects throughout the region, including those who have little access
to English translation. Alliance Ukraine's sex work project partners
are also adapting the resource.6

In Uruguay 9% of young male sex workers and 21% of

transgendered sex workers are estimated to be HIV–positive,
compared with 2% of female sex workers.16 In Brazil one study
showed seroprevalence of 40% among transgendered and 22%
among male sex workers.17 A Mexican survey showed 12.5% of men
infected with HIV compared with 0.025% of women.18 “Male
transvestites” are identified as the group in Indonesia at highest risk
of both HIV and syphilis.19 A 1997 study of 76 boys and young men
(11 to 17 years) in St Petersburg, Russia, found no condom use and
frequent receptive anal sex. Fifty of the boys and men in the sample
had STIs.7 Legalizing prostitution helps sex workers to be informed
in these kinds of situation and/or problem in this industry.
Counseling and testing can be done to the sex workers in order to
inform them.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are infections a

person can get in having sex with someone who has an infection,
passed from person to person through vaginal intercourse, anal sex,
oral sex, or skin-to-skin contact. STIs caused by viruses include
hepatitis B, herpes, HIV, and the human papilloma virus (HPV). STIs

6 Overs, Cheryl.”SEX WORKERS : PART OF THE SOLUTION”. 2002

7 Overs, Cheryl.”SEX WORKERS : PART OF THE SOLUTION”. 2002
caused by bacteria include chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.8
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks
immune cells called CD4 cells, which are a type of T cell. These are
white blood cells that move around the body, detecting faults and
anomalies in cells as well as infections. When HIV targets and
infiltrates these cells, it reduces the body's ability to combat other
diseases. AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection. Once
HIV infection develops into AIDS, infections and cancer pose a
greater risk.9 HIV can develop into AIDS if untreated.

Sex workers are usually more affected than others. Care

and treatment that integrates effective prevention activities and
protects HIV positive sex workers from discrimination has an
important role in reducing the epidemic in the longer term and for
future generations.10 In 2017, study shows that Philippines has
highest HIV infection growth rate in Asia-Pacific with a 140-percent
increase in the number of new infections. 11 It also shows that men
who have sex with men were most at risk. In giving proper health
care and services to the prostitutes, the government can inform and
educate the people who chose to engage in this kind of industry of
safe sex practices. In legalizing prostitution it would help and
encourage the prostitutes to have their regular check-ups. It would
prevent the underground prostitution and punish those who violates
and/or abuse the prostitutes such as the pimps. A significant impact
of legalized prostitution is that it may allow prostitutes the ability to
safely escape the dangerous underground sex-trade industry.12 By
implementing strict regulations on how prostitutes work, it is also
believed that the overall rate of people suffering from STDs will also
decrease.13

Prostitution laws vary in different countries. Local laws

are enacted to regulate and permit prostitution is theses nations:
Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bonaire, Cape Verde,

8 “Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)”. Web.

<https://familydoctor.org/condition/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis/>
9 “Explaining HIV and AIDS”.

<https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/17131.php>
10 Overs, Cheryl.”SEX WORKERS : PART OF THE SOLUTION”. 2002
11 “Philippines has highest HIV infection growth rate in Asia-Pacific: U.N.”.

<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-aids-philippines/philippines-has-highest-
hiv-infection-growth-rate-in-asia-pacific-u-n-idUSKBN1AH3CW>
12 Liberator, Mark. "Legalized Prostitution: Regulating the Oldest Profession." The

Liberator – Iconoclastic Electronic Maganizine, 8 Dec. 2005. Web.

<http://www.liberator.net/articles/prostitution.html>
13 Baguioro, Luz. "The rise of prosti-tuition." Philippines Correspondent 6 Apr. 2005,:

NewsBank. Web. 12 May 2010.

Chile, Colombia, Curacao, Ecuador, Eritrea, Germany, Greece,
Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Latvia, Lebanon, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Niue, Panama, Peru, Pitcairn Islands, Saba, Senegal, Saint
Maarten, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay
and Venezuela.14

In June 2003, New Zealand became the first country to

decriminalize sex work with the passage of the Prostitution Reform
Act (PRA) 2003. The PRA’s purpose was to ‘decriminalize such
activities and make prostitution subject to special provisions in
addition to the laws and controls that regulate other businesses’. This
purpose was not intended to equate with the promotion of
prostitution as an acceptable career option but instead to enable sex
workers to have and access the same protections afforded to other
workers’. The Bill, as introduced, had the stated aims of: 1.
Safeguarding the human rights of sex workers; 2. Protecting sex
workers from exploitation; 3. Promoting the welfare and
occupational safety and health of sex workers; 4. Creating an
environment conducive to public health; 5. Protecting children from
exploitation in relation to prostitution.15

In 1999, prostitution was decriminalized in Denmark but

third-party activities such as coercion, procuring, trafficking, and the
solicitation of minors remain illegal. In Finland, prostitution is legal
but selling and purchasing sex in public is illegal. In Costa Rica,
pimping and prostitution rings are illegal but prostitution is legal. In
Argentina what is illegal would be human sex trafficking, owning a
brothel, pimping, or coercing an individual into prostitution in any
way is illegal. While Belgium allows prostitution and prohibits
brothels, many brothels are still openly operated without any
consequences. They are seen as a nuisance, but authorities put no
effort into policing red light districts. In Germany, there are an
estimated 400,000 prostitutes and their revenues are equivalent to
companies like Porsche and Adidas and brings in about six billion
Euros each year with a clientele of an estimated 1.2 million – it’s more
like a sex empire than an industry. 16

14 “Countries Where Prostitution Is Legal 2019”. 2019. Web.

<http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-where-prostitution-is-
legal/>
15 Paul Bellamy, Prostitution law reform in New Zealand (Parliamentary Library:

Wellington, 2012)
16 Radford, Lyra. “15 Countries Where Prostitution Is Legal and How It Works”.

<https://www.ranker.com/list/legal-prostitution-facts/lyra-radford>
 In regulated prostitution, the government can withholds a
portion of the revenues to contribute to social benefits. The
prostitution business is worth $186 billion, according to the website
www.havocscope.com which analyses the black economy. It has been
estimated legalizing prostitution across the United States could give
the tax authorities around $20 billion a year. In Germany – which
liberalized its prostitution laws in 2002 – the legal industry is worth
around €16 billion and tax revenue is a major contribution to some
city budgets. It has time the sex industry is taxed like any other
business, so that those revenues can benefit society.17 “Sex tourism is
the third-highest money-making industry in the Philippines. But the
current penalties and enforcement policies do nothing to have an
impact on the business.18 Another benefit of legalizing prostitution
resides in the ability to generate tax revenue. Once the applicant has
successfully obtained licensing she may work at a brothel, enjoying
legal income taxable at the appropriate rate. The average annual
income of an employee at one Nevada brothel working only one
week per month is at least $100,000 (Ayres). Based on this figure,
each legally licensed sex worker would contribute more than $20,000
in federal income taxes per year.19

Prostitution needs to be regulated for the state and for the

people in this industry. They work in an environment that makes
them prone to violence and abuse due to a lack of supervision. Also,
there are healthcare risks due to unsafe sexual contact with
unscreened clients. Decriminalizing prostitution means regulating
prostitution. Also means that the government should think of the
industry as a profession for adults. In this way, the government can
make rules and regulations in this kind of business to prevent child
exploitation, pornography and child as sex workers. Laws regulating
prostitution will help to prevent the buyers and/or the pimps to
obscure the abuse involved and to confer a form of right on the
abuser.

Prostitutes or sex workers are also people which are an

element of a State. The State has a government which regulates and
protects the rights of its inhabitants. People’s rights are safeguarded

17 “Arguments for and against legalising prostitution”. Web.

<https://www.debatingeurope.eu/focus/arguments-legalising-
prostitution/#.XOt06ogzbIU>
18 Hays, Jeffrey. “PROSTITUTION IN THE PHILIPPINES”. 2008.

<http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6e/entry-3895.html>
19 Sonntag, Tracey Pierce. “Case for Legalizing Prostitution Following the Nevada

Model. 2002-2009. <

https://people.emich.edu/tsonntag/engl444/printtoweb/tax_revenue.html>
by the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Human rights are also protected
under International Law. These prostitutes even if they are engaged
in sex trade industry still have human rights to be respected and
protected by the State. Human rights are the basic rights inherent to
all human beings from birth until death.20 As a result, sex workers are
frequently unable to seek redress for crimes committed against them,
thereby offering impunity to perpetrators.21

Pace, Taylor. “10 Important Facts About Human Rights in the Philippines”. 2018.
20

“Should prostitution be legal?” <https://prostitution.procon.org/view.answers.

21

php?questionID=001315>
CONCLUSION

The world cannot deny that prostitution is rampant in every

country. The State has an obligation to provide safety in its people
and part of the society would be the prostitutes. The State is duty
bound to protect its inhabitants and to ensure that they do enjoy their
rights and not deprived thereof. Treating prostitution as any regular
industry or profession would result to fair treatment for the
prostitutes as any regular workers. Prostitutes may then enjoy the
benefits given to employees under the pertinent laws such as Labor
Code.

Regulated prostitution benefits the prostitutes as well as the

society. As long as there would be well researched and well thought
policy in the Philippines, the people’s right and health will be
safeguarded. In modern prostitution, it does not just accommodate
women but also men. Both men and women should be protected in
this kind of industry. However, we cannot deny of its existence.
Prostitution can be treated as any other profession which is bounded
by a contract, governed by laws. Regulated prostitution can protect
the rights of the prostitutes and can prevent exploitation of women
and me. The law can protect these people from violence and abuse
that this sex industry have. By providing laws and regulations, the
rate of people suffering from STD, HIV or AIDS will also decrease.
The society can benefit from the tax revenues acquired from sex
industry. Regulated prostitution can lessen the damage in the society.