Bar manager faces trafficking charges; cashier cleared

CHARGES were filed in court against a bar manager who allegedly hired girls and women for prostitution in D’Sisters bar in Gen. Maxilom Avenue, Cebu City.

The Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office charged her with qualified trafficking since some of the victims were minors.

No bail was recommended.

One of the six charges filed against her was “large scale human trafficking” since the offense was committed against “three or more persons.”

The bar’s cashier, who was also arrested, was cleared of the charges.

The prosecutor ordered her release from police custody.

Although she was involved in operations of the bar, the prosecutor said the cashier had no part in recruiting the victims.

The two women were arrested by police during an entrapment operation last June 8.

They denied the allegations against them during inquest proceedings before Assistant City Prosecutor Rodulf Joseph Val Carillo.

The manager said she was just a receptionist of the bar.

The owner of the bar was not included in the charges.

Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 has a confidentiality provision that prohibits the identification of the accused and victims in human trafficking cases.

The law prohibits the “recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge for the purpose of exploitation, prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation.”/REPORTER ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL