One Night in Bangkok

By Herbert Vego

A friend from Kalibo recently messaged me for an update on the fatal shooting of former Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PAPI) president Johnny Dayang on April 29, 2025.

No update. All I could say was that the Kalibo police had launched a hot-pursuit operation against a suspect.

I could not imagine anybody who would take the life of an 89-year-old “father” to us in the print media. One of the many memories I vividly recall was the night we shared with Johnny and two other Filipino journalists in Bangkok, Thailand.

Johnny took us to Patpong Night Market to buy low-cost souvenir items to take home.

Johnny also walked us through the other side of the street where night clubs showed sexy dancers in bikinis, gyrating to the sound of bedroom music.

A man approached us, “Would you like to share a table with the girls?”

“No,” I said, fearful of expensive lady’s drinks to pay for.

Just for curiosity, we took a “toktok” (motorcycle taxi) to go “somewhere else,” which turned out to be a prostitution house showcasing a score of beautiful women behind a glass room. Among them were Filipinas, we were told.

“You may choose one without fear,” a gay receptionist prodded us. “They are licensed professionals who get regular consultations with gynecologists. Here, prostitution is legal.”

Again, we shook our heads while our eyes were feasting on the scantily-dressed ladies.

“If only prostitution were legal in the Philippines,” I told my companions, quoting a popular song, “there would be less lonely people.”

The Thais are not Christians; most are Buddhists. But they keep in mind what Jesus Christ said to the multitude who had tried to stone an adulterous woman, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her” (John 8:7).

This corner believes in legalizing prostitution in the Philippines. After all, it is where the willing victim is as compatible with the perpetrator as a dance instructor is with a dancing student.  As regards the harm that prostitutes inflict – probably venereal disease – the best way to curb or minimize it is to legalize prostitution, Thai style.

As in Bangkok, licensed prostitution houses would maintain the services of a physician. Under medical supervision, the girls would be less harmful to men’s health than cigarette smoking.

We have “honorable” public officials who are worse than prostitutes. They willingly trade principle for unlawful pecuniary gain, as in the case of 605 kilos of high-grade shabu worth ₱6.4-billion that entered the country from China through the Bureau of Customs’ “express lane” on May 23, 2018.

Let’s face it, Filipino prostitutes are themselves victims of a cruel society that has refused to provide them with decent alternatives.

She is a wise “prosti” who names her price in the hope of saving sufficient money and retiring comfortably from the trade in old age.

In less hypocritical societies like Thailand, prostitutes are no longer outcasts. On the contrary, they are appreciated for the “love” they render. They serve the biological needs of normal men, the widowers, the separated and especially the bachelors who are not yet ready to plunge into marital responsibility.

The moralists have nothing to fear; prostitutes would not do business with them.

On the other hand, a society that shuns prostitution endangers the moral fabric more. We don’t have to belabor the issue; we all have heard of Filipina domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia ending up as rape victims of their male employers.

Going back to our Bangkok adventure, we ended the night with a buffet dinner at Shangri-La Hotel.