U.S. ambassador to Philippines apologizes for sex tourism remark

The US ambassador may actually be right though. I know one American who regularly goes there for some shopping...and sex.

While the Philippines has quite a number of men's club and establishments catering to these low life forms, it is unbelievable that such rude comment came out from an American ambassador destined in that particular country. I think he should resign his position or better yet the White House has to recall this guy before he strains the relationship of these 2 countries.

If the Americans wants to enjoy the sex industry that is their problem. Just wondering if there are no whores in the great USA.

it is unbelievable that such rude comment

Rude? I am sure many will swear its true. If it is true, I don't care if its rude. To heck with everyone's petty little feelings. I want my politicians honest and telling the truth. Those demanding pretty pictures all the time regardless of honesty are directly responsible for all those lying politicians we have.

I don't want to hear about sentiments. I want to hear your estimate of the numbers. You have reason to think he is off or no?

Ain't nothing inherently wrong with sex tourism anyway. Places like the Philipinnes make up for stupid American prudishness and sexual repression. If anyone should be feel embarrassed its Americans, not Filippinos.

The Ambassador might not have the correct data to back up his comment, but i think what he said was true. Filipinos have high regard for family and friendship. No matter how poor they are, they can still find some things in life to make them happy. They always have a happy disposition in life. this is probably the reason why filipinas are in such great demand to foreigners.

The Philippines, despite the nice people & natural sceneries at some selected spots & let's put it bluntly , have rather limited tourist attractions to offer. The most serious concern for an average traveler is indeed security In this normally a nice country to visit.

The Ambassador might have voiced out the fact under an inappropriate circumstance related to his status as an ambassador of a big nation, albeit he couldnot have missed much on his statement over the statistics. Facts can hurt sometimes !

If the Philippine Govt was serious about its ambitious plan of almost doubling the number of tourists in 5 years, what is your game plan without the sex industry to support ? Frankly, not sure how this gang of corrupted & incompetent officials can manage to come up with a workable plan ?

what he said is true but not diplomatic.

good for the ambassador to apologize. it's really naive for some people to take hearsay as factual information. also, kudos for the philippines for not tolerating sexual tourism.

No one travels to the Philippines for the food.

it's really naive for some people to take hearsay as factual information.

True, but is he that far off?

The major problem here was his wording. If he just added the words "I believe" and "about" to his statement that would have been fixed. And in my mind, that is all he should apologize for. And basically, it is. He apologized for the inability to back up what he stated as a verifiable fact when it wasn't.

But a greater and far more important point was still conveyed by his words: sex tourism is rampant among American tourists to the Philippines, not that I find that to be a problem. Its just a simple fact that needs to be recognized in order for him to be an effective ambassador.

Who cares if it's accurate? An ambassador shouldn't be making those kinds of statements.

It's not 40%, it's 39.99%. Mr. Ambassador, get your facts right.

I had fun in the philipines without sex, the diving was great.

If the Americans wants to enjoy the sex industry that is their problem. Just wondering if there are no whores in the great USA.

There are some, but the idustry is illegal. I have gone to the PI several times. Back when we had military bases there, it we used to call it "Adult Disneyland" because of the sex industry. Ask most of the women there, and they will give you the same song. Tjhey are from the provinces, and there is no work or very little money. They either have the option of going overseas to work as a "maid" in places like the Middle East where they can be mistreated, or to Hong Kong or Singapore where they are treated little bette, or to Japan where they can work in girlie bars and marry a Japanese man to stay here, or work in Subic or Angeles city in the bars, and hope to marry an American to get out.

That's not PC, but that is just the way it is. Just do a web search for sex tourism in the PI, and you will see many companies offering tours to Manila and Angeles City and Cebu. It's not pretty but it is there.

What the PI government should be concerned with is not so much that an American Ambassador made the comment, but that it is actually going on in their country. That has been the manner of their government too long. They look the other way at how these woman are treated and what they do in the PI and other countries, as long as they keep sending remittances back to the PI.

He should be sending his resignation to Obama.

This reminds me of the Admiral based in Hawaii that made a comment in response to the 3 U.S. Service members who raped a 12 year old Okinawan girl in September 1995. The comment he made was something to the affect of the following: Why didn't they just go to Thailand or the Philippines and pay for sex instead of raping a child? He was fired from his post and forced to retire bit earlier than scheduled. So it goes to show that people in high positions really need to think before they speak/post/send, etc.

What a d-bag. Resign, at once.

Absolutely unqualified dimwit.... safe bet he Is he an Obama appointee, and some owed him a favour.

frank07:

" also, kudos for the philippines for not tolerating sexual tourism. "

LOL, don´t bite your tongue in cheek.

Magic8balls Oct 8th comment is pretty much how I feel about it. Sure it may not be the epitomy of diplomatic "tact" but the truth can never be denied no matter what people want to say.