Go-Go Bar in Pampanga, Philippines

The Philippines criminalises the person who sells sex, defined in gendered terms. Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code, rewritten by Republic Act 10158 (2012) when vagrancy was decriminalised, deems women who for money or profit habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct to be "prostitutes" and punishes them with arresto menor or a fine of up to ₱20,000, more for repeat offences (fines raised by RA 10951 in 2017). Buying sex from an adult is not an offence as such, but buying or engaging the services of a trafficked person for prostitution carries six to twelve years under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. Engaging in the business of or profiting from prostitution is the "white slave trade" offence (Article 341), and maintaining or hiring a person to engage in prostitution is an act of trafficking when the means listed in the 2022 amendment are used. Source: Prostitution Laws (prostitutionlaws.org), https://prostitutionlaws.org/countries/philippines/, reviewed 2026-11-04, CC BY 4.0.