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Tuesday, April 11, 2006
PNP plays 'cats and dogs' with prostitutes in Boracay
By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
AS THOUSANDS of local and foreign tourists start to flock the world-famous Boracay Island in Malay town, Aklan province during the Lenten days, the police, gay and female commercial sex workers are playing "cats and dogs."
Although Boracay Special Tourist Police Office (BSTPO) Chief Jess Mendez is not considering the case of filing vagrancy cases against these prostitutes, minimizing their activities remains a top concern for him.
"Our main priority now is the security of both local and foreign tourists numbering to almost 50,000 now. But since everything is now place as far as security is concerned, we are on the hunt for gays and female prostitutes who victimize some foreign visitors in the island," Mendez said.
He added that many of the gays and female prostitutes who are now in Boracay are suspects in robbery or swindling cases.
The victims mostly are male foreign tourists, Mendez said.
Gays, said Mendez, usually pretend as girls but when male foreign tourists will pick them up, the "gays usually turn into robbers."
The same "modus operandi" is being employed by some of the female prostitutes, he said.
Mendez, however, lamented that most of these gays and female prostitutes who are now in Boracay are not residents of Boracay Island.
"Many of them are from Manila and other places. Their main intention is to earn money through robbery or swindling," the chief of police also said.
But what made the situation funnier is the current regulation allegedly being implemented by Mayor Cawaling of Malay town.
"All gays are required to secure pink card from his office before entering the island," Mendez said.
The gays who have no pink cards will not be allegedly allowed entry in Boracay.
As to the old punishment of making gays bald to deter them from swindling foreign tourists, Mendez said since he assumed his post last September 2005, he eventually stopped this practice, which he considered "inhuman" against gays.
At present Boracay security is being manned by only 100 policemen but are also being augmented by forces from the Army, Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard and Maritime Police.
(April 11, 2006 issue)
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