A 22-year-old man who tried to sell the sexual services of seven women, including three minors, was arrested by police in an entrapment operation in barangay Guizo, Mandaue City Tuesday night.
A police decoy who pretended to ask for women paid P18,000 in marked money to the pimp.
The “customer” was shown seven females aged 16 to 22 years old. Some of them were wearing school uniforms, but it still needs to be verified whether they are really students, said Senior Inspector Miche Gabod, chief of the Women and Children Protection Desk of the Mandaue police.
The arrest was made after three weeks of surveillance said Basak Police chief Senior Insp. Wilson Abot, who led the operation.
The arrests were made at 11:30 p.m. in the presence of representatives of the International Justice Mission, City Social Welfare Services, and the women’s desk.
The suspect will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, said police. The special law prohibits identifying both the the victims or the offenders in the media.
Gabod said police received a report about the illegal flesh trade from a a concerned citizen in barangay Guizo.
The arrested suspect said this was his first time to get in this kind of trouble.
“Di man gyud unta ako, ang akong amiga maoy contact nila, nya naa man siya’y lakaw maong ako ang gipadala sa ila,” he said. (I wasn’t supposed to be here. My friend was the one contacted but she was busy and sent me.)
The women were turned over to social workers in Mandaue City for counseling and stress debriefing. /FE MARIE D. DUMABOC AND NORMAN V. MENDOZA