Eleven women allegedly recruited to work as commercial sex workers were rescued when police raided a bar in Mandaue City on Wednesday night.
A woman who claimed she was the owner of the bar and the establishment’s cashier were arrested. Police withheld their names pending the filing of charges against them.
The woman acted as pimp or mamasang, police said.
The arrested persons, who detained at the Subangdaku police station, will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9208 or Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
The rescued women were turned over to the Department of Social and Welfare Development (DSWD) in Cebu City. They will be subjected for a dental examination to determine their ages.
Insp. Sheryl Bautista, chief of the Women and Children’s Protection Desk of the Mandaue City police, said they were tipped off last week of prostitution activities existed in the bar.
Minors worked in the bar, according to the report.
Bautista said the two-day surveillance revealed that a customer had to pay P1,200 as “bar fine”to enable them to take a woman out for sex.
Bautista said they coordinated with the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB), Centro police station and DSWD when it was confirmed that the bar was involved in prostitution.
A police asset pretended to hire three women from the bar.
Police immediately swooped down in the bar when the police asset handed P3,600 to the cashier as a payment for the three women.
Bautista said police will continue monitoring other bars to stop the prostitution in the city./REPORTER JUCELL MARIE P. CUYOS