CHARGES of human trafficking and serious illegal detention were filed against a man and a woman who allegedly coerced two girls to go to Leyte for a job as salesladies.
The charges were filed against Princess Diane Castro of Compostela town and her boyfriend, Dave Sanchez of Danao City.
The two were accused of luring the girls with a job offer in Leyte and asking them to pack their belongings and leave home.
The couple allegedly threatened to harm the girls if they refused to travel to Leyte.
Castro and Sanchez are facing complaints before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.
Based on their counter-affidavits, the handling prosecutor can either find probable cause and file charges in court or dismiss the case.
In their affidavits, the girls said they met with Castro, who is their neighbor, in Compostela town last Nov. 18.
Castro took a piece of paper and wrote a goodbye message.
“As she finished writing, she handed us the letter and told us to leave it in our house. She continued to convince us to go with her in Leyte and promised to give us a prominent job as saleslady in a known department store,” the girls said.
They said Castro ordered them to pack their personal belongings since she already arranged their travel to Leyte, and threatened to harm them if they won’t go with her.
On a separate occasion, the girls met with Sanchez, Castro’s boyfriend.
“She told us to trust her and her boyfriend as the latter is a good man. In fact, she promised to shoulder all the traveling expenses,” they said.
The girls told Sanchez they were over 18 years old upon Castro’s instruction.
“It was also during that conversation that she asked us if we were still virgins,” they said. The girls said they nodded.
The girls, who are cousins, said they eventually decided to go with Castro whom they consider “not only a neighbor but also a close friend.”
But when they reached Danao City, the girls wanted to go home, worried that their parents were already looking for them.
Sanchez allegedly prevented them and took them to the Danao City Terminal where they boarded a van-for-hire.
They went straight to the house of a relative in Cebu City.
One of the girls’ sisters texted their father, who rescued the girls. /Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol