Crusade continues against massage parlors

by Nick Delgado

Guam - She may have moved to the federal government, but U.S. Attorney for Guam and the CNMI Alicia Limtiaco plans to continue efforts on cracking down on massage parlors. And she'll get some help from an ally in the Guam Legislature. 

"We need to make sure that we pursue everything that we can," said Limtiaco. "It's going to take all of our resources coming together; this definitely is not the job for just one agency alone." It was more than a year ago KUAM News went undercover, bringing you the seedy side of Guam, showing you what really happens behind closed doors of establishments claiming to offer massage therapy. In 2009 Limtiaco was the attorney general of Guam and initiated the creation of the Massage Therapy and Establishment Task Force.

She's taking that effort into her new role, saying, "There is a Human Trafficking Task Force that I have continued efforts on as the U.S. Attorney and I have communicated with the current attorney general to try and continue working together with the task force."

Much of the problem for the lack of enforcement on the part of the Guam Police Department and the Department of Public Health to inspect these facilities were blamed on a shortage of resources and manpower. Speaker Judi Won Pat was working with Limtiaco on legislation that would identify which establishments were legal during her last term.

Won Pat again is fine tuning the bill to minimize the sexual activity that is going on in these facilities, saying, "There are two things that we want to do, we want to make sure that the genuine therapeutic type of massage that they would continue and that would totally be distinguished from the other 'massage parlors.'"

Won Pat says the legislation would also point out the connection with these massage parlors and human trafficking. Since KUAM's investigation the task force has closed several of these massage parlor establishments throughout the island but it's obvious that more continue to open its doors, the question now raised is whether or not this piece of legislation will be enough to prevent what's going on behind the closed doors. 2006.

The speaker said, "I don't think we could ever stop it; I mean it's the oldest profession in the world but we definitely want to at least protect the ones that are legitimate...you can't just say your providing massage therapy when in fact your not so that's we want to make sure is clear."

Won Pat says she will introduce the measure sometime next month.