Not for ‘happy ending’

My friend Paul stumbled over an article written by my colleague at Cebu Daily News, Aileen Garcia-Yap. A European himself, Paul wrote to me his comments about the article which is directed to a foreigner from the Netherlands whose statements Aileen just reported. Indeed the statements sounded controversial and it is for this reason that I am giving my space here to Paul’s comments. Here they are:

“Under the headline: ‘European market eyed / Expert advises Cebu spas to upgrade image, services,’ Aileen reports that on the 53rd opening outlet of Body and Sole, a Dutch expert stated that most Europeans still see coming to Cebu as a way of having their ‘happy endings,’ a euphemism for sexual encounters with women.

“The woman, who is said to be an expert in the beauty and wellness industry (whatever that is) in the Netherlands, was referring to Cebu as a place for Europeans to visit for sex tourism. She said that most Europeans visit Cebu because of the general perception that they can find available women.

“This statement, with all due respect, is not correct. First, if one wants to be taken seriously in one’s professional field of expertise, one should have some reliable and verifiable data at hand supporting one’s thesis. Otherwise, it is just hearsay.

“Now, how would anyone know how many Europeans come to Cebu for meeting available women? If a European arrives at Mactan Airport, his entry is recorded and the respective figures end up with the Department of Tourism (DOT). Based on these records, DOT was able to tell us that as of June this year, 7,248 tourists were from Europe. How many of these 7,000 plus European visitors to Cebu were sex tourists? The Dutch expert said ‘most Europeans.’ How many are most? 5,000? 6,000? 7,000?

“Such a generalizing assumption is inadmissible. It not only seriously offends the average good hearted European visitor to Cebu by indiscriminately branding him with not the slightest hint of a tangible proof as a sex offender, damaging and destroying the local morale, but also this European visitor is declared utterly dumb and stupid for coming to Cebu (of all the places!) to look for available women.

“Who in his right mind would travel 24 hours and more on a long-haul flight with minimum one tiring stopover just to buy a basket of red grapes at Rustan’s when all the while the same red grapes grow in his own backyard?

“It is common knowledge that available women are indeed available virtually all over the world, virtually everywhere, and this probably since the beginning of time. Do we then indeed believe that someone from Europe would travel that far just for an extra service after a massage?

“If the local tourism industry really eyes the European market, it should get its priorities right, because DOT’s data show quite another thing. The figure of 7,248 arrivals from Europe tremendously pales into complete insignificance when compared to the real and actual potential of European visitors. Germany alone, for instance, has 17 million retirees. A considerable number of them can afford to travel all year round. And they do. On top of that: a recent study of changes in European travel preferences shows that Asian destinations have been trending for several years.

“These figures clearly indicate that most Europeans perceive Cebu not as a destination for sex tourism, but that most Europeans do not perceive Cebu as a worthy destination at all.

“There is the actual train to catch.

“It is certainly a noble goal to improve the local wellness and spa industry’s standards. This, however, is a goal by its own right and has nothing to do with generally improving Cebu as an attractive Asian destination for Europeans. Improvement in the realm of prostitution should include cleanliness, personal safety and health for anyone involved, removal of criminal elements, fighting of any kind of abuses, and avoidance of public nuisance. All this is a task for a functioning social cooperation between doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and the police rather than for the tourism industry. It works very well in Switzerland for the benefit of all parties involved. Why not in Cebu?

“How is Ale?” (End of Paul’s comments)

Ale, my dear readers, is my spouse who was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer early this year. This is the real reason you find me scarce here. Hers is of the non-small cell lung cancer type which I also read was insensitive to chemotherapy. Knowing also the side effects of chemo, which could be fatal, we decided to forego it in favor of “targeted cancer therapy” which is administered with the use of a drug taken daily. The drug cannot eliminate the damaged cells but it prevents them from going out of control.

As long it succeeds in doing this, Ale is safe and thank God she is responding well to treatment. Though she became very thin and looked depressed in the first half of the year, she is back to her normal weight with a very bright disposition. The only trouble is that the drug is very expensive. We are not alone though. Some of the good people I know have been very helpful to us. God is the great provider.