Sex Worker Registration?

Pokpokan Blues
By Makisig Santos

In Laoag City, the first-class capital city of Ilocos Norte, the movements of sex workers (SWs) are well-monitored – e.g. there is a designated red light district in the city (yes, it’s government ‘sanctioned’), and there’s a ‘registration,’ so to speak, of SWs (who are given a ‘card’ that, when possessed, somewhat guarantee the SW had undergone – and passed – the LGU-mandated health tests), among others.

Largely due to such well-informed efforts, Laoag City has been able to curb the spread of HIV and/or AIDS (as well as other STIs) in its locality – an achievement cited by the UNAIDS (in 2005, in the HIV/AIDS Country Profile: Philippines) as one of the LGUs in the Philippines with best practices as far as the promotion of sexual/reproductive health of its constituencies is concerned.

While the effort may be commendable, for a SW (such as me), the concern is on registration – was the ‘control’ of SWs by having them registered necessary, at all?

In a study, Sex Worker Registration: Does It Work?, which evaluated the registration and health outcomes of female sex workers (FSWs) in Tijuana, Mexico, authors N. Sirotin, R. Lozada, S. Strathdee, L. Nguyen, M. Gallardo, and T. Patterson actually found that a registration system allowed for Tijuana’s local government to ascertain that compared with non-registered FSWs, registered SWs were more likely to work in a bar (76% vs. 49%), and have had HIV testing (85% vs. 55%), among others.  While not pointed out by the study, there’s the insinuation that, yes, registration will remedy sex work-related issues, mainly because it allows for a way to ‘control’ (for lack of a better word) the SWs.

Superficially, registration seems… err, promising, again, for lack of a better word.

But there are, of course, concerns about this.

For one, there’s the invasion of privacy – we don’t want a National ID System, so why should sex workers be forcefully given the same system?  The issue, I suppose, is more to do with the probably abuses that can happen – and, considering we’re in the Philippines, is almost a certainty to happen.  And when it does happen, there’s the violation of the human rights of SWs.

Secondly, pertaining the concept of establishing a system of monitoring possible STI (including HIV) transmission from SWs to the general populace, by practice (and experientially), isn’t the general populace more sexually, err..., unsafe than SWs?  Go check the statistics...

Thirdly, the transfer of focus (thus, resources) of law enforcers to deemed “criminals,” when the focus should be the real criminals, e.g. illegal recruiters, traffickers, et cetera.

And there are more.

In the olden times, in the Philippines, when the then Spanish government wanted to monitor the movements of the Indios, the Filipinos, they had the cedula made.  And what, pray tell, did Andres Bonifacio do with his (and the people who supported him and his cause do with theirs)?  They, simply, just tore them to pieces.

Now going back to SW registration...

Check the Scarlet Alliance (SA, www.scarletalliance.org.au) for more information on SW rights.

Makisig Santos, 24, is an on/off sex worker, who believes that since the profession is inherently dangerous, SWs need to be provided with as much know-how as possible for them to be able to protect themselves in whatever situation they find themselves in – and this is the very intention he intends to achieve here, with Pokpokan Blues.