NBI raid saves trafficked women at Caloocan hotel

MANILA, Philippines—Six women, two of them minors, were rescued and nine people were arrested Thursday night as government agents raided a small hotel in Caloocan City that was allegedly used as a front for prostitution, the National Bureau of Investigation said.

Cesar Nuqui, head agent of the NBI Anti-Trafficking Division, said the raid on Astrohotel on Monumento was prompted by complaints from concerned citizens who saw young girls being offered for sex by at least four men at the establishment.

The nine people arrested included the four men and five hotel employees, Nuqui said. They would be charged with human trafficking and child abuse, he said.

The rescued women were placed in the care of social workers.

An initial investigation showed that the hotel employees apparently worked in cahoots with the four men by arranging room accommodations for the women’s clients.

The hotel lobby served as the venue where prospective customers could pick the women they like, Nuqui added.

“The suspects who served as pimps pay for the hotel room using their cut from what the clients pay the girls. The transactions and other arrangements were made at the lobby,” Nuqui said.

According to the agent, the modus operandi would have the women loitering at the hotel lobby as though waiting for someone and the client signaling his choice to the pimps. The selected woman then goes up to a pre-booked room and the client follows.