A Taiwanese woman has sparked controversy in the Philippines after she was spotted on the country’s resort island of Boracay sporting a super skimpy bikini.
On Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 9-10), the female tourist was spotted with her boyfriend strutting around the beaches of Boracay wearing an outrageous outfit that left virtually nothing to the imagination. She was spotted on Wednesday wearing a white bikini that consisted of only slender strips of cloth covering her private parts, while she chose to don a red version of the outfit on Thursday.
Local Filipinos, who were aghast at her indecent public exhibition, rapidly shared photos of the woman’s racy outfit on social media. The social media photos then drew the attention of the Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group on Wednesday, which called on police to track down the tawdry tourist.
Police managed to identify the hotel where the Taiwanese couple was staying, and at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, police arrested the woman on charges of violating a municipal ordinance on indecency, reported Panay News. When questioned by police, the couple claimed to be “models.”
The woman told police that she was “just expressing herself” and claimed that she did not know she was violating any laws, saying this was the way she normally dressed on beaches in Taiwan, reported The Philippine Star. Municipality of Malay Police Chief Maj. Jess Baylon described her outfit as “literally just a string.”
Baylon cited the woman as saying “I’m confident about myself. It’s just normal for us.” However, Baylon explained that Philippine culture is more conservative and that such attire is considered to revealing by Filipino standards: “Maybe it is her way of expressing how they appreciate the island and the beauty of her body, but in our conservative culture, this is unacceptable.”
The woman was fined 2,500 pesos (US$48) for violating Section 5 of Municipal Ordinance 203, which prohibits “taking lewd or excessively erotic pictures,” according to The Philippine Star. After paying the fine, the couple, which arrived on the island on Tuesday (Oct. 8), reportedly left on Friday.