Manager of Mandaue’s Club Harem convicted for human trafficking

THE Mandaue City Regional Trial Court convicted a manager of a high-end strip club for selling minors as prostitutes.
In its ruling,  Mandaue RTC Branch 28 Judge Raphael Yrastorza sentenced Nicole Cabillan, manager of Club Harem, to lifetime imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of P5 million for violating the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 (Republic Act 9208).
Cabillan was charged with another suspect who died while the case was on trial.
Two of the four trafficking victims were minors. One of them testified that she was sold to customers for sex at the age of 14.
Meanwhile, the US-based International Justice Mission said police rescued the victims from the bar in December 2010.
“Several police officers testified during the trial… The judge also cited statements that had been recorded in notebooks found at the bar, where girls had written out prayers to God asking to be saved from their situation,” said IJM, one of the non-government organizations representing the children’s sector in the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).
Cabillan’s conviction was the first in Mandaue City and 108th nationwide since the establishment of IACAT in 2005.
Last week, Judge Simeon Dumdum of Cebu City Regional Trial Court branch 7 convicted to 20 years in prison Valentino Martin for human trafficking for operating the brothel – Gate 3 – in barangay Banila,d Cebu City .
Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 as amended by Republic Act 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012 includes prostitution as an act of trafficking.
Global Trafficking in Person Report (GTIP) of the US Department said that people in the country are trafficked from rural areas to urban centers including Manila, Cebu, Angeles City, and increasingly developing cities in Mindanao.
What happened?
The National Bureau of Investigation raided Club Harem located along the national highway in barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City on January 19, 2006.
Twenty-eight women were rescued during the raid, including Nicole Cabillon. Five were minors.
The NBI filed a case against Cabillan and Club Harem owner Rodolfo Rivas, Jr./Inquirer and CDN RESEARCH