The study of prostitution in the Philippines, through the long period of time, shows some cycles of development of this phenomenon based on the integration of the archipelago to international colonial capitalism, the militarization of the territory through garrisons and huge American military bases and finally on aggressive public policies for the touristic development and the promotion of work abroad since the Marcos years until the present administration.
Facing this sector, the legislation has fluctuated but could not reduce this activity. The explosion of AIDS epidemics in the last four years could launch a new national debate on prostitution. The society, deeply rooted on a patriarchal tradition, condemns the sexual relationships before marriage, disapproves the nocturnal outings of the young girls without a chaperon and above all considers the prostitution as a moral aberration, real national shame. But, like the neighboring countries, the prostitution in the Philippines became, in few decades, a real industry contributing directly or indirectly, but secretly, to the growth of the national economy.
What are the factors, classical but also original, having helped the growth of that sector? This article is only a first historical outline of prostitution in the Philippines, showing, through the use of the long period of time temps long , some cycles of development of this economic sector at the national and international levels. According to Filipino historians, the women enjoyed an equal treatment with the men, were allowed to inherit, manage farms, choose their husbands, divorce, be free sexually and occupy the prestigious functions of Babaylan spiritual leader and healer Ofreneo This perception of history, diffused by the nationalists leaders of the middle 19 th century, among them Jose Rizal, then resumed by the present day historians and numerous feminists organizations, refers to a Golden Age where the relationships between persons were harmonious, harmony broken by the introduction of the patriarchal system, the cult of the female virginity and other systems of social control organized by the Spanish administration and its religious auxiliaries.
In this context, the prostitution is perceived as an imported product from a foreign land, one of the results of the Spanish colonization, and so without indigenous roots. Scott has shown, the main coastal communities or barangay like Tondo in Manila, or those in the regions of Bicol, or Pangasinan in Luzon, Mindoro, Cebu, etc.
At the top of the social scale, was the datu whom authority was dependent from his lineage but whom political power was based on his skills to control the commercial flows, the number of slaves, concubines, subjects and his reputation of warrior. The free men timawa were the second class composed of children and descendants of the concubines of the datu and of freed slaves.
