THEY'RE bullying Junquera again, which is what they do whenever a problem related to sex comes up or is given fresh attention.
Junquera is a street bisecting P. del Rosario and Sanciangko streets, part of Kamagayan, Cebu City. The street name also applies to the barangay’s area of prostitution, perversely described as its cottage industry, along with drug and alcohol abuse and petty crimes.
Residents have long ceased being insulted by the "product branding," accepting public censure and non-love. For many years now, Junquera hasn’t been known for anything else.
The association has stuck as Bulsita has to the sitio and Alcohol to the street.
Two quick facts: (1) Junquera isn't the only location but it has the biggest concentration of whores, often the base of many others who elsewhere hang out at street corners or serve in "casas." (2) Not everyone living along Junquera and the rest of Kamagayan is a prostitute or depends on sex as a living: office workers, students, and sales girls rent rooms there.
There are three other streets embracing the area (Sanciangko, P. del Rosario, and Jakosalem) but it's Junquera's name that natives and visitors remember.
Sex trafficking
The court convicted a pimp the other day. And a group concerned that Junquera was being used in trafficking of women and children made it a peg for its advocacy.
The group didn't ask that bawdy houses in the area be padlocked and the whores driven away but urged City Hall "to do something about it."
There's not much the City can do unless it rationalizes its policy about prostitution.
As it is vague about lingam spa rules, the City is schizophrenic in dealing with prostitutes and pimps.
(paseares@yahoo.com)