THE ILOILO City-based escort agency known as Messalina Escorts has cause quite a stir these days, having been the first to officially announce such a service in this part of the country. But aside from this so-called historical first, there is really nothing new about it. There are a lot of “escort services” in Iloilo City, notable among them are the ones found in Delgado Street and in Tanza, City Proper. There are also guerilla-type ones in Calumpang and in the Ledesma-Valeria Streets area. So what’s the fuss? It just so happen that Messalina Escorts had a website while the rest had none.

As soon as reports about Messalina Escorts reverberate in the media, local and police officials immediately came out with pronouncements about having it investigated and the people behind it prosecuted, and it could be a front for a prostitution den despite disclaimers. One top official was quoted as having expressed apprehension that this may bring a negative effect to the city’s image. A city councilor, for his part, said it must be stopped from operating if proven that it engages in prostitution.

Anywhere you go, escort services are always synonymous with prostitution. Escort agencies provide companionship, which most often results to sexual encounters – for a fee. Escort agencies claim that their service is limited only to introducing the client to the escort and anything else that may transpire in private is strictly between two consenting adults.

Escort service is nothing but pimping. No one would contract an escort if sex is not at the back of his mind. If the client is an ailing senior citizen, then he should employ a caregiver, not an escort bannering her bra size in the Internet.

New York’s escort agency Emperors Club VIP, for example, was found to be an elite prostitution den. Federal agents, according to news reports, even discovered that one of those who had engaged its services on several occasions was New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, known to the club’s book as Client No. 9. This resulted to Spitzer’s resignation on March 12, 2008 and the dismantling of Emperors Club VIP, which during its heydays had 50 call girls available for appointments in New York, Washington, Miami, London and Paris.

Whoever fashioned Messalina Escorts knows history. In this age of Wikipedia, we have come to know that Messalina is synonymous to sexual promiscuity. She was the third wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius I. History says that Messalina used sex to enforce her power and control politicians, that she had a brothel under an assumed name and organized orgies for upper class women and that she participated much in politics and sold her influence to Roman nobles or foreign notables.

Described as a nymphomaniac, Wikipedia has this interesting entry: “A widely reported tale was of Messalina’s challenge to a notorious Roman prostitute named Scylla of an all-night sex competition. Scylla gave up at dawn when each woman had taken 25 lovers, but Messalina saw no reason to stop copulating until well into the morning. It is said that she was exhausted, but not satisfied.” There was this 1994 movie Messalina: Empress of Rome which tells of her sexcapades and even the sub-title of the 1977 sex comedy Caligula II was “Messalina! Messalina!”

Back to Messalina Escorts: Why the revulsion when prostitution had long been existing and has been tolerated in the city? Sometimes, we even see red-plate vehicles parked in front of that blue gate along Delgado Street, especially when some government agencies have guests from Manila. In other words, it’s not just being tolerated but being patronized as well. This creates a market, and once a market thrives, the trade will persist. It did!

And so from having mature women as escorts, the dens now have minors in their care, catering mostly to Korean patrons who are fond of sex orgies. Worse, these minors are not subjected to medical examination, making the spread of sexual-transmitted diseases unmonitored. The NGO Visayan Forum has a lot of stories to tell about this.

Simply put, Messalina Escorts is but just a product of tolerance and patronage. If the market thrives, the trade will persist. That’s the logic. And having a website is just a tool to make the product more accessible to the market. It’s like eBay! Marketing has to conform to technological advancements. If corrupt politicians have websites, why can’t an escort service?

And now some of our city officials are calling for an investigation as to who is or who are behind Messalina Escorts. If an investigation is to be launched, it should focus on why the flesh trade is being tolerated and what factors contribute to such culture of tolerance. You bet, some of the investigators may just find themselves the subject of the investigation. And some of those who believe having an online escort service can bring a negative effect on the city’s image may find themselves partly to be blamed. Further, the investigation should not just unearth who commissioned the development of the website and who will profit from it but should also uncover the root causes of prostitution and identify alternatives to the factors that gave birth to this trade.

Messalina Escorts is just a symptom of a disease. It can be addressed on its own but the disease must be cured once and for all, or it will just manifest in different ways. And like other symptoms, it serves as a wakeup call that the problem is structural and systemic, and that the next big thing can never be big if the benefits of economic growth will not trickle down to the poorest of the poor.

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