This article explores how Westerners and the local Filipino population have received and perceived South Korean tourists in a small Philippine coastal tourism village. Following the ongoing growth in inter-Asiantourism, this ethnographic study investigates how a local population responds to the increase in South Korean tourism in the Philippines

At the most local level, Philippine political structure relies on two institutions. The smallest political unit is the barangay, which has its own elected council and a barangay Captain. Sabang, the tourist town in focus in this article, constitutes together with twelve other barangays the Municipality of Puerto Galera. Sabang has since the early 1980s developed into a thriving international sex tourism town, which has brought the population lucrative business opportunities, but also a reputation of seediness, immorality and a place of illegal and illicit activities. Although prostitution is nationally illegal in the Philippines, it is also controlled and monitored by the municipal and barangay authorities. From the mid-1990s and forward, the municipal government of Puerto Galera have made several attempts to control the perceived “lewdness” (as it is formulated in official documents) of Sabang, in particular the behaviors and activities of the go-go bars. These attempts have been highly controversial and led to unprecedented events in municipal politics. I explore these charged issues in Puerto Galera ethnographically: who and which institutions are entitled to a) identify, and b) control “lewdness”? These questions inevitably draw attention to municipal policy-making and the various local responses to particularly controversial municipal policies.