Swede nabbed at port for escorting girl, 9

A 67-YEAR-OLD Swedish man  was arrested yesterday  in a Cebu City terminal as he was about to board a ship for Masbate province with a 9-year-old Filipina.

Port police stopped the foreigner on suspicion that he had violated a special law on the abuse of minors.

The girl, a native of Masbate, was turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Jonny Lagstrem told Maritime police he had brought the girl to a hospital in Cebu City for medical treatment.

The Swedish national will have to explain the circumstances of their being together because Republic Act 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse Law declares unlawful any person “keeping in his company a minor, 12 years or under or who is 10 years or more his junior in any public or private place” when the adult is not a relative or has any “bond recognized by law, local custom and tradition” or is not acting in the performance of a social, moral or legal duty.

Maritime police acted on a tip from an informant in Masbate province, the girl’s neighbor. The girl lives with her  grandparents.

Two policemen at the Cebu Ports Authority approached the man and child at 5:25 p.m. while they were sitting down in Passenger Terminal 3 waiting for their ship to Masbate.

NBI-7 special investigator Jedidah Hife said the girl was brought to a Cebu City hospital for examination and will be turned over to social workers.

Lagstrem remained silent in the police detention cell and refused to be interviewed by Cebu Daily News.

“We are gathering evidence to find out what appropriate charges we shall file against the suspect,” Hife said.

Hife said the tipoff to police was a good sign of “community awareness” of the problem of child abuse and child trafficking.

The Cebu Ports Authority referred the case to the Provincial Women’s Commission which in turn sought the aid of the NBI-7. The arrest was made by Insp. Romulo Alcazar Jr. and SPO3 Noel Avenido.