Sections Politics How an OFW-led Philippine Government Can Eradicate, if Not Minimize, Prostitution
| How an OFW-led Philippine Government Can Eradicate, if Not Minimize, Prostitution |
(Part II of a Series on Philippine Prostitution) How an OFW-led Philippine Government Can Eradicate, if Not Minimize, Prostitution and Exploitation of Street ChildrenWe will . . . hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope . . . transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. – Martin L. King, Jr.
On the occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, here is how a Philippine government led by Overseas-Filipino workers (OFW) and expatriates can eliminate, if not reduce, prostitution and the exploitation of street children in the homeland. This is the Martin Luther King-like dream of the prime movers of an OFW-led political party that will contest the May 2010 presidential, congressional and local elections in the Philippines.
Eliminating prostitution and solving the dilemma of the street children is one of the Filipino expatriates’ dreams that will be reduced into a full-blown feasibility study, fully funded and inspired by the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., to wit:
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day . . .”
Go to the Web site of Stanford University’s Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute ( http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/ ) to download King's most famous speeches, such as "I Have a Dream" from the March on Washington in 1963 or "I've Been to the Mountaintop," delivered on April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
To read this writer’s other articles on Filipino women and prostitution, please click on the following hyperlinks:
Are Prostitutes the Cheapest “Commodities” (sic) in the Philippines? (Part I)--As Updated
The Woman Leaders of the Philippines Must Protect their Fellow Women
Does the World Care About Japan’s Modern-day "Comfort Women"?
According to news reports, there are more-than 100,000 street children in Metro Manila alone. Many of these street children have been lured into prostitution. There are also tens of thousands more street children in other big cities in the Philippines. In regard to woman prostitutes, the educated guess is that there are at least a million of them in the Philippines and hundreds of thousands more in Japan and other foreign countries.
The initiative being proposed by this writer is to include the plan of reducing, if not ending, prostitution – whether of Filipino women and/or children wherever they may be – in the OFW-led economic platform that will be presented for the 2010 elections. Initial funding for this idea will come from a part of the present expenditure for congressional and local-government pork barrel, which an OFW-led government will make illegal once it is able to control the national government. Additional funding will come from Overseas-Filipino donors and foreign foundations.
For what better way to reveal “the glory of the Lord . . . and all flesh shall see it together” than by ending the trade of the flesh in the Philippines?The plan is to transform part of the Philippine military reservations into giant Boys’ and Girls’ Towns where there will be special schools to let them finish their education. The children and women enrolled at these crash-programmed institutions will be offered courses in nursing and other healthcare-related fields. Those who have the athleticism will be tutored also in sports where the Filipinos can excel such as baseball, marathon, softball, soccer and other games.
Why specialize in nursing and other medical professions? Because there is a worldwide demand for healthcare professionals. In the United States alone, there is a looming nursing shortage of about one-million jobs in the next 15 years. Besides the profession of nursing pays more in the industrialized world than the oldest profession. There is also the idea of organizing Filipino-manned hospital ships, medical corps and even engineering brigades for countries that experience natural calamities and/or man-made disasters. Please see this writer’s idea of helping the Islamic world in this article, The SEATO Should Be Revived to Help Pakistan Secure its A-Bombs and Combat Terrorism
Perhaps by 2012 or even earlier, the Filipino-American community will be able to tell the world and America that they have aided in putting into action the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. For what better way to reveal “the glory of the Lord . . . and all flesh shall see it together” than by ending the trade of the flesh in the Philippines? # # #
Nope, I ain't no OF Political Party member. Just a plain kibitzer here, and give thoughts and opinions when asked by buddies back in da hood. .
Actually, to reiterate what I have been saying all along, there are political parties galore in the RP due to the Multi-Party system instituted under the Cory Constitution of 87. It's a little difficult to manage that "halo-halo" system under a Presidential form of government.
Also, none of the existing political parties in the RP have a real platform or agenda that differs from another, save the Communist Party of the Philippines/ NDF/ NPA, which is to take absolute power by violence and political action. In other words, no particular group of leaders has any fresh ideas or solutions to the socio-economic problems we have encountered in the last half century. Poverty being principal among these.
What are your broad stroke proposals for the BBm/ What is your message to the electorate?
At this juncture it looks like even if GMA is on the definite way out, her economic agenda must have continuity as it at the macro level, if not yet the micro is effective, and showing results. Just more discipline and maintenance of the current national policies will be key to recovery. No more experimentation and policy changes once the new boys get in 2010. Otherwise it's back to square one.
Jay Caedo
San Francisco, CA
Like I said before, prostitution can never be eliminated, in Iran where supposedly gays and prostitute do not exist and punishments are death they do, this is also the same in PRC, yet there as well, it proliferates.
If it can be controlled, it will become safe, healthy and taxable, it may even boost the country's cash box.. ok, I am joking.
What drives people to do that form of work? Is it because of that lack of skill? I don't think so, I had met women whose skills will equal any here
yet still do that work, for the money? Probably a big factor, but the basic reason is that they do enjoy that line of work, and yes, for them this is work, they lie on the job so to speak.
Copper Sturgeon
and Friends:
Shall we say that a political party that will
"Eradicate, if Not Minimize Prostitution" is God's
Political Party vs. Prostitution ("PPP"). As the
saying goes, the body is the temple of Good or God.
When God created paradise, he created man, and man was given life, as man still receives God's breath of
life, in a mother's womb.
Any voter who respects himself as the son of earth's
heavenly paradise would not like to stain his
self-respect. "Paraiso terrenal" is found in his own
mother, wife, sister, daughter, as well as in the
women of his brother men. He would vote for your
winning "PPP." And since man is the father of the
family, he would understand that a man is just as, or
even more responsible than woman for upholding the
value of true love, not money, in his own world.
Last November, we touched on a related topic in your
Mabuhayradio, when we discussed polygamy and
prostitution. About the sanctity of sex. Even more
sacred than the ballot. Should not be sold nor bought.
Lourdes Ceballos
Chicago, IL
But as we also know that prostitution existed all the way to the most ancient texts of our Holy Book.
It cannot be denied, it exists and will continue to exist. No matter how much one would try, it will always be there to remind us the folly of being
human.
Eradicate it if you can, but this will only fail as other nations even with a heavy hand fails. I am suggesting an alternative. One that will
work.
Copper Sturgeon
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