Hospitality Economies: Prostitution, Legality, and the U.S. Military in the Marcos Era

• In Event: (Re)Situating Extralegality in the Philippines: Prostitution, Conflicted Trade, and Education Disjunctures - Sponsored by Philippine Studies Group

Abstract

Under formal law, prostitution continues to be illegal nationwide in the Philippines. Yet government documents record that in the early 1970s there were 50,000 women registered as working in the “entertainment industry” and 300,000 by 1987 (PREDA, 2012). These women were commonly referred to in euphemistic terms such as “hospitality girls” or “bar girls.” Closely connected to the Philippine sex industry at this time, and continuing today, are the urban centers of Olongapo and Angeles City known then as “boom towns for the sex industry”– two former camp towns outside of America’s largest overseas military bases during the Cold War and frequented by American servicemen. While the “legality” of prostitution in Euro-American society remains avidly debated, this paper argues that this practice was actively promoted in the Philippines by the Philippine government and U.S. military policies and programs during the Marcos Era. Indeed, until 2007, engaging with prostitutes was permissible as long as it did not affect “good order and discipline” or “bring discredit upon the armed forces” (UCMJ 2005: 138-34). Drawing on oral histories of prostituted Philippine women, American servicemen’s children, marriage records, and U.S. and Philippine government documents, this paper problematizes the state discourse banning prostitution and the on-the-ground vibrancy of the industry. I analyze why and how this industry was (and remains) tolerated and facilitated by the U.S military and assisted by Philippine government and non-government actors at local and national levels despite national laws from both countries deeming this industry “illegal.”

Author

• Katie Whitcombe, University of Oxford