A Girl in Every Port, Danger Everywhere

By Marites Sison

MANILA "No one will become a seafarer if there are no women," declares Esteban, a squat man who proudly declares he has four wives -one in the Philippines and three others in Hong Kong and Brazil. "They are our only happiness (there)."

There are 500,000 registered seafarers in the Philippines, which is among the world's top exporters of labour. They account for 20 percent of all seafarers in the world, according to the Scalabrini Migration Centre. (Of that figure, only 3,000 or 0.6 percent are women.)

Having multiple partners and unprotected sex puts not only the seafarers at risk of HIV/AIDS, but entails the risk of their passing it on to their spouses or partners back in the Philippines. Many seafarers living with HIV/AIDS do not tell their families about their status.

The group of seafarers interviewed at the Luneta Park in downtown Manila say today's merchant marines are more aware of the risks of their sexual behaviour .

"Condoms are part of our supplies," says a gangly seafarer in his early 30s who has worked as a pump man in a tanker for five years. He adds that ship captains normally tell them to be cautious each time they dock in a port.

Also, since 1997, the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar that the government requires them to take before they sail, includes a discussion of STDs and HIV/AIDS. But there are large differences among these seminars, run by recruitment agencies accredited by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), which processes the departure of hundreds of thousands of Filipino workers a year.

One recruitment agency, for instance, makes an elaborate presentation on the dangers of unprotected sex, by including a powerful video of a seafarer living with AIDS.

Another agency makes only a cursory presentation with examples that are, at best, far from the reality the seafarers know: The instructor talks about the life of American basketball superstar Magic Johnson, who has the virus.

Only a few discuss in depth the issue of the seafarers' reproductive health - and that of their spouses or partners. Some instructors talk about the health consequences of sexual infidelity for spouses, but most just emphasise how to beat STDs like gonorrhea. "Don't forget the condom," they stress.

In short, the seminars' messages do not always sink in. "Everything is abstract," says Riza Faith Ybanez of the non-governmental organization, Kalayaan (Freedom). "Workers usually have this attitude of invincibility."

Mar, whose HIV status ended his seafaring days, remembers having been "too excited" about seeing the world to pay heed to the advice he received during a three-hour pre-departure seminar.

Mar adds he had no use for condoms during sex, especially if he was drunk. "You feel like you're Superman," says Mar, who goes on speaking engagements to tell first-time merchant marines to be cautious in their sexual behaviour.

There are also health risks from some merchant marines' wrong notions of how to be safe. One Ôtheory' is that one need only to press the lower portion of a woman's abdomen and if she winces in pain, she has an STD.

Johnny Esteban (not his real name) says seafarers go all-out on fun, because they feel it is their reward for having worked hard: 80 percent of their monthly wages are remitted to their families, they keep the remaining 20 percent. Others point to the need for intimacy, especially when they have sailed for as long as 32 to 52 straight days, as in the Europe to Africa route.

The seafarers say they do have other outlets for recreation when sailing for weeks on end. They watch videos, sing, play cards and drink.

But most say that once their ship docks, only a few are able to resist casual or paid sex. Esteban says he thinks about his wife, but finds himself unable to control his urges: "What can I do, she's far away?"

"There is such a thing as choice," says retired captain Juan Cordero, who sailed for 21 years and says his religion, Jehovah's Witness, helped him remain faithful to his wife.

Cordero confirms stories about 'professors' -mostly ex-seafarers- who brag about past exploits and regale students with photographs of scantily-clad bar girls they had met in various ports.

Diaz says that in ports where vessels are not allowed to dock, all one has to do is make radio contact with a pimp and women are brought to them. "You can't remove it," he says of the practice.

If seafarers develop STDs while on board a ship, Mar says most self-medicate since there are no medical officers aboard vessels. Others do not tell their officers until the pain becomes unbearable.

For those like Carpio, who find out about their HIV status when they undergo mandatory HIV/AIDS testing by hiring companies, no counseling services are available. (The law bars mandatory testing, but hiring firms more often require it.)

Likewise, overseas workers with HIV/AIDS lack access to social security and health insurance services, which the law limits to a category of occupational illnesses like loss of limbs and influenza.

Given the months at sea with limited contact with other people, language barriers in international crews, distance from relatives and friends, boredom, lack of spiritual nourishment, accidents and inter-racial fights are but some problems seafarers face aboard their vessels.

These affect their psycho-social well-being, says the Scalabrini Migration Centre In Manila, which recommended in a recent paper that "a time of rest on shore in an adequate environment can make a difference in keeping seafarers sane."

Cordero points to the need for "continuing education" on life skills among seafarers.

But the Filipino merchant marine may have no choice but to change his sexual behaviour soon, says one 28-year-old seafarer.

A new, controversial rule that limits to 40 the hiring age among merchant marines is making many rethink their lives, he says. In the past, a Filipino seafarer could work until his seventies, but now he does not have the luxury of time, he adds.

"The bottom line is poverty," this seafarer points out. The age rule "will make you think that you should not waste your money on getting women, gambling and drinking, because you will just have a little time to save."