The middle months in the calendar signal the start of another academic year in the Philippine educational scene. Thus, for school toddlers, kids, teens and adolescents (maybe, even adults, too), this period once again ushers in the tuition season.
For most preschoolers, primary schoolers and high schoolers, this may not be something to worry about, what with their parents' undying support and scholarship grants from helpful hands to finance their studies.
However, for some college coeds, this signifies the coming of yet another burden in their getting-more-complicated lives. They have to look for temporary summer jobs during the two-month vacation and engage in the oddest sidelines just to save enough to get their diploma.
What's worst, others resort to what could be, for them, “the fastest and most lucrative way” of earning money “sex for sale.”
By day, they don their respective school uniforms, as if they live their student lives the way people expect them to. But, by night, they transform into negotiable commodities that once 'purchased,' can be subject to anything that a customer will be pleased to do.
Two of these many anonymous personas who stand by the dark corners of city streets and call for their customers are Rovic and Aiza (not their real names), whom SCU Bulletin got a chance to talk to.
PRESSURED BY A PEER?
It was around 1999 when Rovic then 18 years old, fresh from having come out of the portals of secondary school, and had just enrolled at a not-so-well-known computer school in Caloocan City got the “carnal call,” so to speak.
“Magmi-midterm exams kami noon,” Rovic recalls. “Tinanong ko father ko kung may pera nang maipambabayad ko para makakuha ako ng exam, pero sabi niya, wala pa,” he further narrates, adding that his father could only suggest him to just take a special set of exams if he couldn't really make it.
But, to take special exams also meant to add P50 more for every subject.
“Mapapalaki pa, sabi ko. 'Kung may magagawa kang paraan, gawin mo,' sabi ng tatay ko. Pero, naisip ko na 'yung gagawin ko talaga. Kasi, 'yun naman na 'yung paraang magagawa ko para makatulong ako sa parents ko,” he relates.
And so, on his way home from school, Rovic and a friend, who was also a “call boy” and the one who took him into “it,” dropped by the fourth floor of a certain mall in the heart of Caloocan City. And luck struck Rovic. There, he got face to face with his initial customer a male whom he described as “not of the oldie type.” The guy was aged 22.
“Niyaya niya ako. Noong una, wala naman kaming ginawa maski ano. Nagyaya lang siyang kumain sa labas at mamasyal. Pagkatapos, hinatid lang niya ako sa bahay namin,” he recounts.
That was his first ever encounter. And his first 'income'?
“Sumobra pa sa pambayad ko sa midterm exams ang kinita ko nung gabing 'yon. Binigay niya sa akin was P4,000. Examination fee ko was only P2,750. Gusto pa nga niyang dagdagan ng P1,000, sabi ko, 'wag na, tama na 'yon,” he reckons.
As for his encounters with the opposite sex, he describes, “Hindi naman sila 'yung sinasabi nilang masyadong matrona, siguro mga around 25 years old karamihan sa kanila.” Some rendezvous has also led to indecent proposals, “pero hindi ko tinatanggap. May iba pa ngang gusto akong ibahay para tigilan ko na ito, pero ayoko,” he tells.
SWAYED BY A NEIGHBOR
On the other hand, Aiza, an incoming second year Nursing student of a university in Caloocan City, started in the sexual trade only four months ago or since last January, thanks to the influence of her neighbor, whom she told to keep their 'endeavor' just between the two of them. She delved into this kind of 'job' primarily to fend for her studies.
“Siyempre, mataas na ngayon ang tuition. Wala naman akong scholarship,” she laments.
Although the lass hails from Caloocan City, she sells sexual favors through a pimp along the street beside, of all places, a church somewhere in Manila.
She said that she doesn't have many friends and acquaintances in the area. “Hindi naman kasi talaga ako tagarito.”
The ninth child from a brood of 10, Aiza stated that she has to come from her residence to the busy corners of the nation's capital.
“Para 'di ako makilala,” she reasons out, ”Siyempre, kailangan kong protektahan ang sarili ko dahil walang nakakaalam sa amin na naggaganito ako, 'yung kapitbahay lang naming nagdala sa akin sa ganito.”
Though, Aiza only goes every one or two weeks, she makes the most out of the remaining days left of the vacation period.
“Minsan lang, 'pag wala na talaga akong budget para sa sarili ko,” she says. Her parents have already ceased operations on their taxi business.
Aiza, unlike other sex workers, does not ply other “strategic areas” like Quezon City and Pasay; she stays only in one place. She also has to go back home after 'work,' alone most of the times.
“Minsan, 'yung kapitbahay namin na nag-aya sa akin, magkasabay kami,” she says. “Minsan, nakakadalawa ako. Minsan, isa lang. Umuuwi na rin kasi ako, hindi ako nagtatagal, nakakatakot.”
Aiza's highest earnings, so far: P5,000.
“From one customer lang 'yon, overnight. Foreigner siya,” she reveals.
Yet, not all her encounters offer bed of roses. She confided that in her kind of job, she has gone through some of the harsh realities that the world has to offer.
“May mga sadista, nananakit talaga. Na-holdup na rin ako isang beses. Minsan nga, 'yung iba, TY (thank you) na lang pagkatapos ng lahat,” she confesses.
FOR EDUCATION
AND FOR LUXURY
Most students like Rovic and Aiza has turned to prostitution because they needed the money, but not all of them have the same reasons.
“Considering our poor economy in these modern times, we can say that poverty will have to be the foremost reason why people engage in prostitution,” cites Ogie Chaggauauan, project officer for counseling of Dial-A-Friend Phone Counseling Services under the Foundation for Adolescent Development, Inc. (FAD).
Research shows that in other countries, notably in some Asian nations, most students needed money for their education, while others needed cash to support their luxurious lifestyles. This was attested by Chaggauauan.
He affirms, ”While we look at prostitution as a means to finance the luxuries of people, the primary reason for its prevalence, especially among the youth, or students for that matter, is poverty. Of course, poverty leads to difficulty in paying for the staggering fees in school.”
To further illustrate and prove, Rovic explains, “Actually, hindi naman talaga sa nagsimula ako o sinimulan ko ito. Napasubo lang talaga ako. Na-encourage akong gawin ito kasi makakatulong siya sa pag-aaral ko.”
Not that his family does not or cannot support him in his studies his father is the family breadwinner but, “Kulang talaga kasi, as in, kulang talaga kahit na sabihing dalawa lang kaming magkapatid. Meron din kasi kaming kasamamng pinsan na pinag-aaral din ng tatay ko,” he continues.
Then again, addiction to this modern-day vice eventually penetrated his mind and body, the reason why up until today, he automatically goes back to prostitution.
By being a “call boy,” Rovic has been able to buy his own desired branded clothes, shoes, and a classy model of today's gadget of necessity, a mobile phone.
In the same way, Aiza has turned to prostitution to fend for her education, as what her story told. Aside from that, she wants to earn money for herself, her being the only single member left among her siblings.
“I think and I believe that values formation in the early part of life among children can help a lot in curbing prostitution, or prosti-tuition in the Philippines,” Chaggauauan recommends.
“As for our organization, we really cannot help directly. But we can refer them to private sectors that can provide them assistance in their studies,” he maintains.
ON LEADING NEW LIVES
Apparently with a tinge of regret, both Rovic and Aiza have learned their lessons as they look into the hope of renewing their lives after the prostituition experience.
Now 23 and in his last extended semester, Rovic is hoping against hope to be able to finish not through the money he used to earn from “sex acts for hire” but through his newly found legal and edifying occupation being a management trainee in a certain company.
“Hopefully, huling pagrampa ko na 'yung ginawa ko before our finals this previous school year,” he utters. “At least ngayon, totoong working student na akong matatawag.”
Aiza, still unprepared to make a family of her own just yet, was recently making follow-ups on her application in a fast-food chain in Laguna to be able to support her studies, the legitimate way.
Given the chance and the urge to do “it” again, will they go back to selling sex?
“Hindi na. Bakit pa, may maganda at marangal na akong trabaho?” Rovic proudly expresses.
“Besides, may kapatid pa akong mas nakababata at ayaw kong gawin din niya ang ginawa ko.”
“Ayoko na, stop na ako, last na 'to,” Aiza avows. “Tototohanin ko na 'yung alibi ko sa bahay na nagwo-working student ako. At least, 'pag tinanong nila ako at hinanapan ng pruweba, may maipapakita na akong tunay sa kanila,” she ends.
College coeds will be college coeds. They are bound to take the final step towards adulthood and to make it on their own. Not all students are given the privilege to easily finish their education, but there are some who have the courage to make do and get by. And, for as long as selling sex lies around the corner, prostituition could be their “last and best” option.
