Police get tough on abuse of minors

DIGOS CITY—Police on Thursday said suspicions that children were being turned into sex workers in some KTV bars here had been validated after a raid on one of such establishments.

Senior Insp. Francis Sonza, of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Davao del Sur, said at least two minors were rescued following a raid on a KTV bar here on Wednesday.

Sonza said the raid was conducted after an agent, deployed under the CIDG’s “Oplan Nena” and “Oplan Sagip Anghel,” had validated that the KTV bar was providing sex services.

Oplan Nena is CIDG’s campaign against sex trafficking while Oplan Sagip Anghel was aimed at rescuing children being used in the sex trade.

“Our agent inside the said establishment on the night of July 20 posed as costumer. The floor manager approached him and offered to find him a girl for his sexual pleasure,” he said.

Sonza said the agent then paid the floor manager a marked P500 in “bar fine” after they agreed on a girl. The girl’s pimp also got P300.

After money changed hands, other CIDG agents posted nearby entered the establishment and arrested five persons, including the floor manager and the pimp, he said.

The two minors were brought to the city social welfare office while charges have been filed against the five others, Sonza said.

Sonza said more than two dozen KTV bars in the city that are suspected of using children as sex workers were also being monitored.

“This is just the start,” he said.

Authorities have recently intensified their campaign against sex trafficking and other forms of human exploitation, which resulted in the country’s removal from Washington’s list of countries with serious cases of trafficking.

Among the areas where rising cases of trafficking had been observed was Zamboanga City.

In May, a beautician working for a local shipping company was arrested for facilitating the trip to Malaysia of three women.

The police said the arrested suspect was uncooperative for fear of her safety.

“So we believe there is an organized human trafficking group here and that is our target,” acting Zamboanga City police chief Senior Supt. Edwin de Ocampo said after the beautician’s arrest on May 12.

Also in May, two foreigners suspected to be members of an international sex ring were convicted under the human-trafficking law.

Swedes Bo Stefan Sederholm, 31, and 35 year-old Emil Andreas Solemo were ordered imprisoned and were asked to pay a fine of P2 million each after they were found guilty of violation of the anti-trafficking law in connection with their cybersex operation in Cagayan de Oro City.

The two Swedes and their Filipino cohorts were arrested on April 23, 2009 by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation  in Northern Mindanao and the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office  in an afternoon raid at a cybersex den in a three-story building in Barangay Kauswagan in Cagayan de Oro City.

During the raid, authorities also rescued 17 female minors and seized a host of sex toys and gadgets. Eldie Aguirre, Inquirer Mindanao