Cops arrest 2 in trafficking of teenagers

NAGA CITY—Police arrested on Tuesday a KTV bar owner and her companion for the trafficking of two minors forced to become sex workers at their joint in San Fernando, Camarines Sur.

Senior Inspector Valentin Añin, acting San Fernando chief of police, in a phone interview said the minors, ages 14 and 15, escaped by boarding a bus en route to Naga City which was then passing by the KTV bar on Sunday afternoon.

He said the two managed to elude bar owner Marites Regidor who was pursuing them when she learned of their absence.

Añin said kind bystanders alerted the city police to the plight of the two minors after they were dropped off at the city’s central bus terminal.

In their statement to police, the two children said they had escaped from the Cariñosa KTV Bar in Barangay (village) Bonifacio, San Fernando, owned by Regidor and partner Michael Batallones.

They said they were from Sta. Rosa City and were promised jobs as waitresses.