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| Philippines
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| Encyclopedia of Homosexuality http://www.sexarchive.info/IES/
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| USE THE SOURCE TO ADD PARAGRAPH BREAKS, ITALICS, AND CROSS-REFS, ETC. AS NECESSARY
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| The Republic of the Philippines
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| comprises over seven thousand tropical
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| ---------------------------------------
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| ***Page_980***
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| ? PHILIPPINES
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| islands off the mainland of southeast Asia,
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| settled by approximately fifty million
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| predominantly Roman Catholic people; a
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| Muslim minority is found in the South.
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|
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|
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| ==History==
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| Colonized by Spain in
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| the mid-sixteenth century, the islands
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| passed into American control as a result of
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| the Spanish-American War (1898). A three-
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| year armed revolt against the new
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| American colonial power was crushed in 1901.
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| During World War II, Japan occupied the
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| islands between 1942 and 1944—45.
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| Following the war, the United States granted
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| the Philippines independence in 1946. The
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| post-independence history of the Republic
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| has featured a series of guerrilla wars and
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| considerable civil strife.
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|
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| ==Homosexuality and Transvestism==
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| The Philippines enjoys a reputation
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| as one of the contemporary societies most
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| tolerant of homosexuality. Philippine
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| criminal law is silent on the subject of
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| consenting same-sex relations and there is
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| little or no prosecution under other
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| statutes. Filipinos tend to hold benign
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| attitudes toward homosexuals and in
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| certain areas of the country transvestic
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| (cross-dressed) homosexuals even are
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| accorded special status. In Bacolod, for
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| example, a sugar-cane capital of some 300,000
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| inhabitants, cross-dressed homosexuals
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| traditionally participate as dancers in the
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| main social event of the town, the
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| Christmas Eve pageant, held in the city's
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| principal hotel. The queen of the Christmas
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| pageant is usually a cross-dressed male
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| homosexual.
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|
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| Transvestic homosexuals are
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| well-known for their fashion shows or
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| beauty pageants which are presented in all
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| parts of the Philippines for the general
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| public and frequently sponsored by civic
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| clubs such as Rotary or Kiwanis. Such drag
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| presentations are regarded as family
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| entertainment and are popular with children as
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| well as adults. Philippine children are
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| socialized to regard homosexuals as
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| interesting and amusing people. Many Tagalog
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| movies contain homosexual comic
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| characters often portrayed as friends of the
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| leading men. The appearance of
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| homosexual characters in Philippine movies
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| inevitably elicits claps and shouts of approval
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| from the many children in the audience.
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|
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| ==Terminology==
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| While it is the cross-dressed male homosexuals in the
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| Philippines who are most conspicuous,
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| masculine male homosexuals and masculine and
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| feminine lesbians are also found. Because
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| of the rather complex language usage
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| patterns in the Philippines it is somewhat
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| difficult to generalize about terminology
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| referring to homosexuals. While Tagalog
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| is the official language, English is widely
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| used in the universities and among
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| educated Filipinos as a second language.
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| Several other major regional languages are
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| commonly used. The most widely known
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| terms for male homosexuals probably are
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| bakla (Tagalog) and bayot (Cebuano). These
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| terms may be used as general terms for
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| male homosexuals and may apply to
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| masculine, non-transvestic homosexuals
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| or may refer to effeminate or cross-dressed
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| homosexuals.
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|
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| While the Cebuano term lakin-on is sometimes used to refer to lesbians,
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| the more universally understood term in
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| most parts of the Philippines is the
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| English-derived term tomboy. As the term
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| implies, some lesbians are viewed as
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| mannish and some cross-dress and hold
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| traditionally male occupations. Like male
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| homosexuals, they are well-treated.
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| Lesbians, for example, may flirt with
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| neighborhood girls, sending them small presents
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| and love notes without provoking the
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| hostility of parents and neighbors, who are
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| likely to joke and tease about such
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| "crushes." Lesbians tend to lead more
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| private lives than male homosexuals and
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| have no developed social organizations
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| such as bars, networks, coffee shops, or
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| clubs. They tend to pair off relatively early
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| sometimes with a partner, usually a
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| heterosexual female, called a "live-in." Because
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| of widespread crowding, unmarried
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| homosexuals—both male and female—usually (***Page_981***) are not able to set up households
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| independent of extended families unless they
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| are affluent.
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|
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| =="Callboys"==
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| Courtship patterns
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| of male homosexuals are characterized by
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| the "callboy" system, wherein
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| heterosexual males usually between 15 and 25
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| engage in sexual relations or in more
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| permanent relationships with homosexuals
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| in exchange for money and sustenance
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| paid by the homosexual. Callboys may be
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| found in all parts of the Philippines and it
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| is estimated that as many as 80 percent of
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| the young males from the working and
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| lower middle classes at some point in their
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| youths work as "callboys." In some areas
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| the callboy system has become
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| institutionalized. In Pagsanjan, for example, a
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| resort town of 3,000, practically all of the
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| heterosexual males between 15 and 25
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| work as "callboys." Male homosexuals
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| have few sexual relationships with other
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| homosexuals. Most sexual relations of
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| homosexual men are with bisexual or
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| heterosexual youths.
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|
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| ==The Roots of Tolerance==
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| Despite
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| its many social and economic problems
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| the Philippines has been able to develop a
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| society which is relatively democratic in
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| terms of sex and gender. Filipinos often say
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| "We don't need women's liberation; we
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| have had it for years." There is
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| considerable truth in this statement. The
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| Philippines has a long tradition of egalitarianism
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| with regard to the sexes. Many women
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| hold positions regarded as traditionally
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| male occupations. For example, 60
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| percent of accountants, 67 percent of
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| chemical engineers, 70 percent of dentists, and
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| 52 percent of physicians in the Philippines
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| are estimated to be women. Tolerance for
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| homosexuals may well be related to these
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| more general patterns of gender equality.
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|
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| Philippine attitudes are part of the benign
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| system of attitudes prevailing in [[southeast
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| Asia]] and the [[South Pacific]] and may well be
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| a long-standing aspect of Philippine
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| society as suggested by the pervasive presence
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| of such attitudes in rural areas and small
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| towns as well as in the cities. That
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| homosexuals were indigenous to the Philippines
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| before the the arrival of the Europeans is
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| suggested by the observations of Father
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| Juan de Plascencia, who wrote in 1589 that
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| the native Filipinos had among their priests,
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| "bayoguin... a man whose nature inclined
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| toward that of a woman." In a list of
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| "ministers of the devil" of the pre-Spanish
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| religion practiced by the natives, the
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| Spanish friar Juan Francisco de San Antonio,
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| writing in 1738, includes the bayoguin,
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| who was "an effeminate man... inclined
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| to being a woman and to all the matters of
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| this feminine sex." These scant passages
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| suggest that effeminate homosexuals held
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| places of honor in pre-literate, pre-Hispanic Philippines, a fact which may be
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| related to widespread attitudes of
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| tolerance accorded contemporary Philippine
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| homosexuals.
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|
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| ==Crackdowns on Prostitution==
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| By
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| the spring of 1988, two crackdowns
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| occurred to compromise the picture of
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| idyllic tolerance, although both applied only
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| to prostitution: widespread raids on bars in
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| the tourist district of Manila (the capital),
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| and the arrest and deportation of
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| homosexual pedophiles in Pagsanjan.
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| The spring and summer of 1988
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| saw the emergence of a moral crusade
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| against prostitution, pornography, and live
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| sex shows (both heterosexual and
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| homosexual) in Manila's famous Ermita tourist
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| belt. The most highly publicized aspect of
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| this crusade was a series of raids led by
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| Manila police chief Brigadier General
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| Alfredo Lim against nearly 300 bars which
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| allegedly were operating as fronts for
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| prostitution. Some two thousand prostitutes,
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| including some male prostitutes catering
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| to homosexuals, were involved in the raids.
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| While most establishments remained open
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| during this period, one of Manila's most
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| famous homosexual establishments "the
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| Retiro 690 Club," a disco with male
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| prostitutes and sex shows, was closed. By May,
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| 1988, a power struggle developed between
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| police chief Lim and Manila Mayor Mel
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| Lopez, who opposed the raids. President
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| Corazon Aquino, who,approved the raids, (***Page_982***)
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| stepped in and called Lim and Lopez to
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| Malacanang Palace to mediate the
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| dispute. While homosexual establishments
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| were not singled out, they were
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| conspicuously included in the generalized attack
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| on "vice" in Manila.
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|
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| For years the town of Pagsan jan in
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| the province of Laguna has been a favorite
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| of both tourists who visit Pagsanjan Falls
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| and foreign [[pedophiles]] who form liaisons
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| with the many boys in that town who
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| readily (and usually with the knowledge
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| and approval of their parents and
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| townspeople) make themselves available for
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| money. In late February, 1988, a surprise
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| raid on Pagsanjan was conducted by
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| constabulary agents, police, and immigration
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| officials, and 22 foreign pedophiles were
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| arrested. The raiding team left Manila early
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| in the morning, arrived in Pagsanjan at 7
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| A.M., entered the Pagsanjan Lodge and
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| eight private houses without warning or
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| warrants, finding those arrested sleeping
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| with or in other compromising positions
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| with pre-pubertal Filipino boys. Those
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| arrested (from the United States, Germany,
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| Belgium, Australia, the United Kingdom,
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| Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and
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| Canada) were fined 1,000 pesos ($50) each and
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| deported. Four of them remained to
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| contest their deportation on the grounds that
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| they had done nothing illegal in view of
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| the absence of an "age of consent" for
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| males in Philippine criminal law.
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|
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| These events are probably related
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| directly or indirectly to the threat of AIDS,
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| coupled with a new government
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| characterized by a growing sense of xenophobia
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| fed by unfavorable international publicity
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| describing the Philippines as a sexual
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| marketplace.
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|
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| ==BIBLIOGRAPHY==
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| Donn V. Hart,
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| "Homosexuality and Transvestism in
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| the Philippines," Behavior Science
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| Notes, 3 (1968), 211-48, Frederick L.
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| Whitam and Robin M. Mathy, Male
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| Homosexuality in Four Societies: Brazil,
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| Guatemala, the Philippines, and the
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| United States; New York: Praeger, 1986.
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|
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|
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|
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|
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| The '''Philippines''', officially known as the '''Republic of the Philippines''', is a sovereign island country in [[Southeast Asia]] situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 7,107 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila while its most populous city is Quezon City; both are part of Metro Manila. The [[age of consent]] in the Philippines is 12 (18 for money, profit or other consideration under the influence of an adult). | | The '''Philippines''', officially known as the '''Republic of the Philippines''', is a sovereign island country in [[Southeast Asia]] situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 7,107 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila while its most populous city is Quezon City; both are part of Metro Manila. The [[age of consent]] in the Philippines is 12 (18 for money, profit or other consideration under the influence of an adult). |
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| The Philippines is currently the only Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member that explicitly mentions [[sex tourism]] in its legislation. Trafficking in children attracts a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of two to five million pesos. Some migrants from countries such as [[Australia]] who seek to have sex with children assume employment as teachers, tutors and other occupations. They may also infiltrate more isolated communities, rent houses, employ local domestic staff, and build the trust of local community members.<ref>{{cite journal|title=International Child Sex Tourism: Enhancing the Legal Response in South East Asia|author=Johnson, Afrooz Kaviani|journal=The International journal of children's rights|date=03/2011|volume=19|number=1|pages=55-79}}</ref> According to the Anti-Rape Law (Republic Act 8353), [[statutory rape]] is committed against a girl under 12 years of age. There is no such provision covering boys. | | The Philippines is currently the only Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member that explicitly mentions [[sex tourism]] in its legislation. Trafficking in children attracts a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of two to five million pesos. Some migrants from countries such as [[Australia]] who seek to have sex with children assume employment as teachers, tutors and other occupations. They may also infiltrate more isolated communities, rent houses, employ local domestic staff, and build the trust of local community members.<ref>{{cite journal|title=International Child Sex Tourism: Enhancing the Legal Response in South East Asia|author=Johnson, Afrooz Kaviani|journal=The International journal of children's rights|date=03/2011|volume=19|number=1|pages=55-79}}</ref> According to the Anti-Rape Law (Republic Act 8353), it is rape to put one's penis in the mouth or anus of someone under 12 years old.<ref>http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1997/ra_8353_1997.html</ref> |
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| Sexual arrangements in informal markets may see children performing both sex labor and non-sex labor for patrons. Alternatively, tourists may integrate into communities and obtain child sex through systematic gift giving. | | Sexual arrangements in informal markets may see children performing both sex labor and non-sex labor for patrons. Alternatively, tourists may integrate into communities and obtain child sex through systematic gift giving. |
