‘Akyat barko’ prostitution cases alarming, says cop
LOS BANOS, Laguna—Fourteen female commercial sex workers, one of them a minor, had been rescued by police from a foreign tanker in Batangas province on Saturday, according to police on Sunday.
Six people, allegedly pimps and boatmen who brought the women to the vessel, had been arrested.
Members of the Batangas City police, Coast Guard and police Maritime Group had put the tanker, anchored off the Batangas port, under surveillance for a month before moving in on Saturday.
Authorities were tipped off that the women, involved in a form of sex trade locally referred to as “akyat barko,” were already on the ship to offer sex to foreigners.
“They (women) were already onboard for the activity when we came in,” said Senior Insp. Rowena Talania, chief of the Batangas City police women’s desk, in a phone interview on Sunday.
Talania said most of the women were between the ages of 20 to 30 years old, except for one who appeared to be a minor. They had been recruited from Manila and the provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Albay.
Police arrested Amelia Reneva, Ma. Viviana Lopez and Amelia dela Rosa, who acted as pimps, and suspects Jay Fajardo Macalalas, Alex Francisco Macatangay and Ruben Cinco Garais Jr. who served as boatmen.
Saturday’s operation, which lasted until 9 p.m., was the first at the Batangas international port in two years, Talania said.
“But this is quite alarming already as we also have the same problem at the Manila port,” she said.
International vessels from Asian countries would anchor their ships off Philippine ports, she added. Filipino boatmen would then bring women to the ship to offer sex to the crewmen.
“Each woman is paid $100 a night,” said Talania. “Ten percent of that goes to the pimp, 35 percent to the boatman and the rest to the sex worker,” she said.
The women were brought to a government institution in Batangas while the minor was turned over to social workers.
The arrested suspects were charged with violating the anti-trafficking in persons law.
