By ERWIN TULFO
AROUND 80 percent of prostitutes in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, are Pinay TNTs.
These TNTs or Tago ng Tago exit from the Philippine backdoor in the South in order to reach this bustling melting pot of races and faiths. They also manage to leave with the help of unscrupulous immigration officials and illegal recruiters.
I had the chance to talk two of them. Let’s call them Lynlyn, 19, from Butuan, and Kimi, 20, from Zamboanga City.
Both women come from different places. Yet they arrived in Sabah with the same modus operandi. They used illegal recruiters.
Lynlyn is a daughter of circus operators in Kota Kinabalu.
Kimi, on the other hand, was promised a high-paying job as a waitress in Kota Kinabalu for three months.
Both ended up as human sex toys in seedy rooms in Kota Kinabalu. Now, they are just among the hundreds of Filipino prostitutes who have to sell their bodies to maniacs and perverts just to survive.
Instead of becoming OFWs, they became OVPs — Overseas Filipino Prostitutes.
Lynlyn and Kimi desperately want to return to their warm cozy beds and caring families in Butuan and Zamboanga, respectively. But they can’t. Without the proper documents, they couldn’t go back.
Both women can’t even walk on the streets of Kota Kinabalu during the day for fear of being arrested. After all, they are undocumented aliens.
If caught, they could be jailed for a year or two. It’s just horrific to imagine what beastly treatment would befall them if they are eventually locked up.
Lynlyn and Kimi are appealing to the Philippine government for help. Let’s just hope they don’t lose their sanity and will to live before aid arrives.
When good is bad
A Social Weather Stations survey has revealed that President Benigno Aquino III’s satisfaction rating has plummeted from “very good” to “good.” This is bad.
SWS said PNoy got a “good” net satisfaction rate of + 49, after subtracting those dissatisfied (19 percent) from those satisfied (68 percent). This dismal grade was down by nine points from his “very good” net satisfaction rating of +58 (71 percent satisfied, 13 percent dissatisfied) last December.
Could this have been the result of the Noynoying fad? If this is so, then this is really bad. People should not judge their leader based on taunts or namecalling. They should rate the President based on merits. Period.
I am not the President’s confidante nor golf buddy. But I believe he deserves a chance. He is working so hard to make the Presidency right again. We shouldn’t let his Daang Matuwid efforts go to waste, just because of one word: Noynoying.
The President has shrugged off the “good” rating, saying governance should not be driven by surveys.
For what it’s worth, he should be concerned quite a little bit. Nineteen percent of the survey respondents said they are not satisfied with him. And more Filipinos believe that he is serving the rich. Although the President should not be alarmed, he should start reflecting on his style of leadership. He should also prevent additional people from being more dissatisfied with his performance. Before it’s too late.
The voice of the people usually mirrors the quality of their leader’s administration. As they say, vox populi, vox Dei.
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