Boholanas were prey for Internet
They had jobs waiting for them in Luzon with “Internet” operators, even though the young girls didn’t how to use a computer.
What kind of work?
They were told to expect to “face the computer and follow instructions” to be given by a foreigner.
This was the account of four of the 15 Boholana girls who were stopped from boarding a ship to Manila Friday afternoon indicate they were targets of cyberpornography.
Another group of three girls and two male youths about to sail for Manila was stopped by Maritime police at the Pier 4 SuperCat terminal in Cebu City yesterday afternoon.
Aged 15 to 23, the travelers, all from barangay Kabitoonan in Toledo City, said they were promised jobs in Manila for P3,000 a month.
“The girls were fair-skinned and good-looking. I don’t think they were intended to be hired as housemaids,” said Senior Insp. Joselito Blazo, head of the 701st Maritime Police Station.
The young travelers said their recruiter, a Toledo City resident, left ahead of them by plane and was supposed to meet them at the Manila South Harbor.
In the aborted trip of 15 Boholanas who were stopped at the Cebu City pier over the weekend after a security guard noticed with suspicion their young ages, the first theory was that they were all heading for jobs as nannies and maids in Manila.
But Assistant City Prosecutor Rodulf Joseph Carillo told Cebu Daily News he learned about the real job awaiting some of them after speaking with four of the minors during yesterday’s inquest hearing.
The underage girls were presented along with their two Tagalog-speaking adult escorts, who were charged with violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.
A similar scenario of cybersex exploitation was given by Jaybee Binghay, spokesperson of the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development, which now has custody of the girls.
Binghay said she talked with the rescued girls. She described them as “very island-ish, shy and cooperative.”
The girls said they didn’t know how to use the Internet yet, and had only heard about computers but never saw one.
The minors come from poor fisherfolk communities in barangay Nasingin and Jagoliyao in the island of Getafe, Bohol.
“They are typical children. They didn’t know that what was done to them them was wrong,” said Binghay.
Prosecutor Carillo said four of the girls described how they were invited to seek jobs in Manila by the recruiter, who initially paid P1,000 to P1,500 to their parents.
The prosecutor spoke with them in a room where news media were not allowed to enter.
He said the girls were told that their jobs in an Internet cafe would only require them to “face the computer” and “follow” whatever instruction a foreigner would give them.
A total of 12 minors and three young women from Bohol were bound for Manila when they were stopped at the pier with their two escorts.
The minors said they were invited to work in an Internet cafe in Pampanga. The other girls were told they would be hired as nannies and housekeepers.
According to the prosecutor, the victims said they were briefed by the recruiter to claim they were over 18 years old, if someone would ask about their age. /Ador Vincent Mayol Reporter with reporter Candeze Mongaya
