CEBU City Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young wants lingam spas ordered closed by neighboring cities to operate in Cebu City instead.
Young said he wants owners of lingam spas who used to operate in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu to set up their businesses here.
He said the masage has advantages.
“For me, I learned it has drawn a lot of tourists,” said Young.
“I talked to a few doctors, they don’t want to be named, (but they said) it’s true that they really recommend that for prostate cancer. So there’s some truth to it.
Naa’y positive side ana (There’s a positive side to that),” he added.
But Young said before lingam spas can operate in the city, they should comply with guidelines set by the City Government.
He said Councilor Ronald Cuenco, who chairs the council’s committee on health, and Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña, who chairs the committee on tourism, could draft the guidelines that will draw the line between prostitution and providing a “clean” lingam service, to address issues on indecency and immorality.
However, an operator of a lingam massage parlor told the Provincial Board (PB)
yesterday the form of massage is not immoral nor indecent.
Honey Yoo, proprietress of Authentic Lingam Massage Venture, said it does not involve the touching of the male genitals but the stimulation of nearby soft tissues, where the prostate pressure point is located.
Their lingam massage therapists, she added, do not fit the definition of a prostitute in the Penal Code. She said they are of legal age and voluntarily applied as lingam massage therapists.
“Therapists were not forced to do lingam massage,” she added.
This as PB Member Ribomapil Holganza Jr. warned it may be discriminatory for the PB to focus on lingam when there is also yoni massage, which is for females.
Holganza said by passing an ordinance banning the operation of lingam massage parlors, human rights may be violated.
Morals
Holganza suggested three committees should be involved in deliberating on the approval of the ordinance sponsored by PB Member Agnes Magpale. The suggestion was approved by the board.
For Young, the City Government should also look into the moral side of the operation of the business.
“Naa’y condition. Di nato dawaton kung di nila matubag nang question bahin sa moralidad. Ang question ana ang morality side man diba? The sex. So I think ang question ana kung wa’y sex, okay lang? Mao na ang tan-awon nato,” said Young.
He said the service should only be given to adults and therapists should secure licenses.
Sought for comment, Mayor Michael Rama said he has yet to discuss the matter with Young.
At the PB session yesterday, Yoo said lingam massage promotes wellness and stronger relationships for husbands and wives or partners.
Wives
PB Member Sun Shimura then asked if they have conducted a survey if it really makes couples happier.
“I’m about to get married and if I will tell my girlfriend that I will avail of lingam massage, I don’t think she will be happy,” Shimura said, drawing laughter inside the session hall.
But former Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board chairman Rene Bullercer said lingam massage is a form of masturbation.
He said he received phone calls from housewives, complaining about lingam massage.
He said the wives claimed their husbands, who had lingam massage, would no longer have sex with them.
But Bullecer told the PB about yoni massage, a massage for the female genitalia.
Bullecer said a lot of female tourists have availed of it.
Bullecer, Yoo and Marissa Puche, vice chairman of Spa and Wellness Association of Cebu (Swac) were invited to attend the PB session yesterday.
Puche said lingam massage parlor operators are not members of Swac so they can’t police them.
Magpale, who heads the committee on women, family and minors, drafted an ordinance banning lingam massage, saying they are “breeding grounds for human trafficking and prostitution.”
It was approved on first reading yesterday. A public hearing will soon be conducted, Magpale said.
Yoo said they have been operating for two years now.
“Wa gyud problema ani (There’s nothing wrong about it),” she told Sun.Star in a separate interview. (PDF/RSA/JGA)