Part Two
HER siblings’ future gave her a checkered past.
At 22, Liza (not her real name), knew how to play men as a guest relations officer (GRO) at a nightclub in San Juan City.
My sisters are still in school and they rely on me to stay there, according to Liza.
“Isang Grade 5, Grade 3 at Grade 1…tinutulungan ko lang ang aking mga magulang. High school lang ang natapos ko at hindi na ako nag college,” she said.
Liza has always dreamt of leaving her GRO stint. She wanted to own a small restaurant, she said.
That opportunity came after the city government of San Juan offered training courses on food processing. Liza did not hesitate to enroll.
At 24 today, she only returns to those memories of playing to men’s sexual desires when she encounters difficulties.
I don’t want to go back to that life, the former-GRO told the BusinessMirror.
‘No prob’
SAN Juan City Mayor Giua Gomez said the city has no problem when it comes to bars and clubs.
“We have only few, I think,” Gomez said. “We already closed unregulated bars and nightclubs even before, when I started my term as a mayor in 2010.” According to Gomez, restaurants, not clubs and bars, are the booming business in her city.
To help women shun jobs as GROs, Gomez said they encourage them to undergo training for free courses being offered by the city government. “We envision the city of San Juan to be a place where every resident is productive and everyone has the opportunity to study, work, start and own a business,” she said.
Gomez said the city has established the San Juan Manpower & Livelihood Training Center. She said the city also offers consultations on livelihood courses that “help anybody [who] needs a job and income.”
Training hub
ACCORDING to Gomez, the San Juan Manpower & Livelihood Training Center continuously accepts enrollees and offers courses, such as caregiving, dressmaking, tailoring, food processing, cosmetology and reflexology. The center urges every resident to indulge in these activities to improve their skills or make an enviable career.
“It is also one way of preventing the town’s youth from engaging in undesirable vices,” she said.
For the last four years, the center has produced graduates. They also witnessed denizens receiving training on reflexology, Swedish shiatsu and stainless welding.
Some of the center’s graduates are, at present, working in Canada, Taiwan and the United States, while some have started their own businesses at the comfort of their homes, according to Gomez.
“We are just trying to say here that we are not turning our backs for persons like them,” she said. “We are here to help them and give them a second chance.”
Rules
Dominic Garcia, San Juan City BPLO chief, said they inspect business establishments every March. He said these inspections are conducted together with staff of the San Juan City Bureau of Fire Protection, City Health Office and Environment Office.
Garcia explained there are different levels before an establishment, like a bar or nightclub, will be given a permit to operate by the city government.
“For us here in BPLO, we do give the business permit. There is also a fire clearance from BFP, while the food and beverage is being regulated by the health office.”
Garcia, who is also a lawyer, said it is very challenging to inspect the bars and clubs, as these operate during night time. “My people will do an overtime work when they conduct inspection,” he said, adding that, to ensure the safety of his personnel, they are being assisted by the city government’s Task Force Disiplina and a policeman.
He said there are only few clubs and bars operating in the city and are located along the bridge in Araneta Avenue. “We don’t have a Red light district here, unlike other cities,” he said, citing that there are only less that 20 bars and night clubs operating in the city. He stressed that the clubs and bars are not even considered as “high-end”.
“The clubs only cater to trike drivers or shall we say the masses,” he said, stressing that such industry only contribute 1 percent to the city’s revenue amounting to over P850 million.
Decent homes
GOMEZ said she believes it is not enough to provide necessary resources and tools for sex workers but to provide a decent home for them so that they can leave prostitution. The three-term mayor was referring to the Saint Joseph Ville, a part of her flagship projects aimed at uplifting the lives of her constituents and upgrading the environment of the city, which envisions itself as a City of Excellence, a globally competitive and dynamic community of empowered residents.
The total cost of the housing project, funded by the National Housing Authority, is P197.7 million. According to Gomez, the contractor Struktura Teknika Services Co., in joint venture with three builders, completed construction last May.
The six buildings of five floors each offers 24 square meters floor area per unit. It is also home to 340 qualified informal-settler families displaced by the fire in Barangay Saint Joseph on December 25, 2012.
“We really want to get rid of that [prostitution], that is why we want to provide them with earning and home,” Gomez said, citing that another in-city housing project will soon be provided for San Juaneños.
To be continued
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza