Authorities rescued around 50 female sex workers, many of them students from different colleges in Metro Manila, from a night club in Makati City on Tuesday night.
A joint team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and Makati Police conducted the raid on Club Pharaoh KTV located in Creekside Building at the corner of Amorsolo and Javier streets in Legaspi Village.
The operation also resulted in the arrest of nine people who reportedly acted as the club’s floor managers. They were identified only as Sheldon, Junnelyn, Nati, Ma. Reyna, Maila, Ma. Victoria, Elena, Mary Angelyn and Noemi.
They face charges of violating the Anti-Human Trafficking in Persons Act, Makati Police officer-in-charge Superintendent Jaime Santos said.
According to Supt. Emma Libunao, chief of the CIDG Women and Children Protection Division (WCPD), the operation was conducted after they received several complaints that the establishment was engaged in the sex trade and that several of its workers were students.
Libunao said that the club featured an “aquarium,” a room with glass walls where the female workers were put on display. This, she added, was a violation of the antihuman trafficking law and proof that the establishment exploited women.
Investigation showed that while customers were charged at least P5,000 for the services of an “entertainer” inside a VIP room, the workers each received only P400 per hour, Libunao added.