I HAVE NO DOUBT that my friend Jasper is proud of his hometown, Bislig City. Who would not be? After all, his province is now dubbed as the “CyberSex Capital of the World”.
They have just turned techie, with high-tech industry of prostitution using webcams to show what former MTRCB chair Manoling Morato would consider offensive. Equipped with other digital gadgets, they lure foreigners to see them nude online-real time and the cash starts to come in.
My friend rebutted that even with just strip tease live on the Internet, the dollars from these perverted users can contribute to an ailing economy of ours. With this, those nude models would increase their standard of living. And this is just for your eyes only.
I have read that Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic hub has followed the trend. However, their young females use these gadgets to attract more customers. In other words, they use Internet chatrooms to make an initial contact with their clients to offer more services. After agreeing with the price, clients would pick up girls at Internet cafes and find a hotel to continue their liaison.
Now, back to Bislig issue.
On a second thought, the advantage of dollar flowing is not enough. The damage is even greater. Foreigners have stereotype perception of Filipino women, with what they see on the Internet live shows. This cheapens the whole thing. Money is not everything, and certainly not to the compromise of one’s moral values.
Right.
Prostitution could the world’s oldest profession. It continues to thrive not only because of an increasing number of men seeking for some thrill and delight but also they have adopted the modern methods doing business in this rapidly changing world. The thing is, as long as there are people who continue to patronize this kind of flesh market, the business will always be there.
* * *
IT IS ADMIRABLE that Singapore has started its anti-smoking campaign, adding images of a lung cancer victim and the harmful effects of smoking in each pack of cigarette. They have followed the Canadian way of fighting diseases that cigarettes could bring.
This will not work here in the Philippines. Our tobacco consumers would just probably ignore those campaigns. Believe me, those ads will not sell. Even if you raise the excise taxes on these products, sales of tobacco companies won’t be affected. Filipinos will spend their last peso, just to maintain their everyday vices. It is of no surprise that liquor and tobacco companies are the one with higher profits and of course, with lesser tax through dodging.
We have the Yosi-Kadiri campaign years ago, and they looked like a Yakult mascot to me. Where are they now? Yes, Congress have legislated laws just to minimize consumption on tobaccos. Just like the other laws, they are inoperative in effect. It is because tobacco companies have been actively lobbying laws to their advantage. When money talks, everybody listens.
* * *
AS OF PRESSTIME, the Phisix is down by 42 points. Analysts have reasoned out that the untimely resignation of our National Treasurer, Mina Figueroa and the uncertainty of a good replacement have made this so. I would say that the 9-day bullish market is over, but it should be back by a few points the next trading day and will go down back to its 1,600 level. Though I am not basing my speculation on any calculations but in general, I have not seen any measures of solving the fiscal crisis.
The resignation of the Treasurer should have alarmed investors, although she insisted that she was long overdue to resign even before the resignation of former Finance chief, Lito Camacho. The Palace added that her resignation was due to some “personal reasons” not because of conflict in policymaking with the Department of Finance. That is what they said when Camacho resigned last year. Ugh. They have just could not find another reason.
* * *
My apologies for being bearish about the Philippine Stock Exchange, no hate mails please. And do not ask me for Internet passwords with this Cybersex sites, for I do not subscribe to one. If you have pictures of Karmina Constantino, please do send me one here at: thespeculativebubble@yahoo.com.