NBI arrests man for human trafficking in Pagadian City

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested a man allegedly “peddling” the services of young women to clients using social media messaging applications.

Pablo Cayadong Jr., also known as Prince Joy Tolentin, 23, was caught in an entrapment operation Monday in a hotel in Bulatok village in this city, peddling the sexual services of young women for money ranging from P1,000 to P2000, according to NBI Pagadian investigator Leonardo Carpizo.

The women, aged 18 and 22 years, respectively, have been turned over to the City Social Welfare and Development Office.

READ: 15 persons, including 14-yr-old boy, rescued from human trafficking

Carpizo said the victims happened to be of legal age but the informant who tipped them about Cayadong’s operation said that he also recruited the services of minors.

He added that Cayadong’s modus operandi involved contacting customers through social media messaging applications, sending photos of women he recruited and later bringing the women to these clients.

Cayadong, a resident of Napolan village here, said he got a 30-per cent commission for each of the women he peddled to his clients. He also said he had been doing it since 2019.

Carpizo said they had confirmed that Cayadong had photos of women on his phone, which he sent to possible clients. “We are trying to disrupt this act. Due to the vulnerability of these women because of poverty, they were taken advantage of by traffickers,” Carpizo said.

Cayadong is now facing charges of violating Section 4 (a) of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 as amended.

“We have to put an end to human trafficking, a modern day slavery, by immediately alerting us of these cases happening in our area,” Carpizo said.