Two Cebuana girls rescued, bar owner nabbed in raid

TWO underage girls from Cebu were rescued while a female bar owner was arrested in an entrapment operation in Antique province last Saturday.

Charges of human trafficking will be filed against 51-year-old .Virginia Amar.

The two victims, a 17-year-old from Danao City and a 14-year-old from Mandaue City, were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The girls said they were forced to work as entertainers in the KTV bar inside MOL’Z Beach Resort and Lodging House in sitio Calaugan, Tibiao town, Antique after being promised jobs as babysitters.

“They entertained customers and were sexually abused,” said Insp. Sheryl Bautista, deputy chief of the Regional Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force.

Bautista said the girls were paid P1500 to P1700 each by customers who took them out for sex.

According to the parents, the girls were last seen in April this year.

The arrest was made by operatives of the task force, the Regional Intelligence Division (RID) and Police Regional Office-7 in coordination with the Antique Provincial Police Office.

The 17-year-old girl is an incoming first year high school student while the other is an incoming Grade 6 student.

Police surveillance started after the girls’ disappearance was reported by Mandaue city social welfare workers.

The girls were able to call their parents and tell them their location, said Bautista.

During the arrest, three P1,000 bills used as marked money were recovered from Amar’s possession.

“Ming-layas sila kay wala sila kauyon sa ilang trabaho (They ran away because they could not endure their job anymore),” Bautista said.

Counseling

Amar denied recruiting and exploiting the girls.

She said they were just boarding in the lodging house because they ran away from teh bar where they previously worked.

Amar said the KTV bar had been operating for a decade.

“Dati may mga babae kami, pero ‘nung nagkasakit ang mister ko, wala na (We had some women who worked with us in the past but when my husband got sick, we stopped the activity), she added.

Amar said the girls worked as entertainers in the bar on the night when the entrapment happened.

Social worker Edna Regudo said the girls underwent counseling.

Child sex tourism

In yesterday’s 888 news forum, the Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB) said it will meet with law enforcement agencies to map action plans in their campaign against child sex tourism.

CLB lawyer Noemi Truya-Abarrientos cited the rising number of cases against offenders dismissed in court and said a pro-active campaign is needed.

CLB is a member of a new coalition called Cebu against Sex Tourism or Cast.

The United Nations (UN) considers children sex tourism as a worldwide problem.

“The Philippines is in cluded in the top five worldwide in terms of child sex tourism,” she said.

Abarrientos said there are “preferential tourists” who come by themselves and “opportunistic sex tourists” who visit the country for vacation or business meetings but search for child victims.

She said the preferential sex tourists are easier to detect since they have prior records. With Correspondent Michelle Joy L. Padayhag