Charges of human trafficking were filed yesterday against three women suspected of selling sexual services of women and children in barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City.
The women, aged 41 and 45 years old, were arrested during an entrapment operation in a hotel in F. Cabahug Street Friday afternoon.
Members of the intelligence unit of the Police Regional Office and the International Justice Mission conducted the operation.
Eight young women were rescued.
While the police placed their ages as 19 to 26, a dentist’s report said two of them could be underaged girls based on their teeth. The third molars of two of the rescued females were absent. Third molars or “wisdom teeth” usually erupt when a person reaches the age of 17 to 23, said the dentist in a report to the crisis intervention unit of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Marked money and a decoy were used to set up the July 15 bust.
The three respondents were charged with violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Cebu Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. The women were brought for inquest proceedings yesterday at the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.
Under this special law, a person who shall “recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, provide or receives a person” for prostitution or forced labor is liable for human trafficking./ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL