Clean and dignified massage

Egay Uy .

THE drive of the Regulatory and Complaint Board to discourage patrons from availing of, and prohibit operators and attendants from, offering “extra service” has generated several reactions – all of positive, negative and even mocking ones.  The RCB has been relentless in this drive, especially after its rather informal (yet) but honored collaboration with the Cagayan de Oro Health and Wellness Association Inc. (CDO-Hawai).

The latter is an association of a few quality spa operators who provide not only massage therapy but health products as well.  And what is notable is that this association is promoting the restoration of the dignity [or what’s left of it no thanks to unscrupulous operators and attendants] of the massage industry.

“Extra service” as almost everybody may already know, is that kind of service which goes beyond the usual massage or spa. This phrase is used to mean different kinds of sexual services or prostitution. In the National Capital Region, this is commonly referred to as “spakol” or spa with matching “jakol.”

Massage clinics and spas may be promoting their businesses as legitimate with some operators even openly supporting the RCB drive of “no-to-extra-service”, but as they say, the devil is in the details.  According to an article in Rappler, these details can be deciphered in the appearance of the therapists or attendants, such as the short shorts and hip-length kimono, “a far departure from the uniforms that closely resemble hospital scrubs worn by the therapists in (clearly clean) other spas.

The RCB has been talking with the leadership of CDO Hawai to nurture the budding collaboration which started from the review of the weekly hygiene that is required of massage clinic attendants and therapists. The association even physically supported a January 2019 inspection conducted by the RCB of massage clinics and spas to emphatically send the message that there is a government office and a people’s organization that are keeping an eye on their operation.

CDO Hawai, by the way, is an accredited local special body as recently resolved by the City Council.  Its members are also working on their respective accreditation by the Department of Tourism following a successful accreditation of Bliss Foot Massage located at 1A Express Hotel, Door 2B, CM Recto Avenue, this city.  Bliss also provides home service.

Bliss has its own home service application where clients can register.  Clients of Bliss are mostly couples, pregnant women, and children.  Its owner (who prefers not to be named) with whom we are collaborating is also active in educating pregnant women about prenatal and postnatal massage.  She said some ob-gyne practitioners do recommend Bliss to their patients.

For these reasons and more, the RCB is supporting the moves of CDO Hawai because of its advocacy that will eventually restore the dignity of the massage industry.  And the RCB will surely continue to be indefatigable in pursuing its mandate under existing city ordinances.

It’s a tall order but together we can restore the dignity of the massage industry.