Lawyer, social worker accused of perjury

CEBU, Philippines - Three people, including a lawyer working for a non-government organization campaigning against human trafficking and a social worker, were accused of perjury by the parents of a girl they earlier “rescued” from a suspected prostitution den.

Couple Juan and Rebecca Dasigan of Borbon town filed a criminal complaint for perjury against lawyer Giovanni Luna and Carmelita Pelone, both from the International Justice Mission and social worker Nemesia Tumaroy.

The couple accused Luna and Pelone of forcing them to lie by signing a document saying their daughter was a minor at the time of her rescue in Lapu-Lapu City.

They said their daughter was forced to stay at the IJM halfway house and later the Department of Social Welfare and Development-operated center and then compelled to testify against her former employer, Pompeyo Saturinas.

Saturinas, manager of the Shadish Spa Massage Parlor located in Queensland Motel along Human-Humay Road, Lapu-Lapu City, is currently facing a qualified trafficking in persons case before the Regional Trial Court in Lapu-Lapu City.

The alleged illegal act of the IJM people was tolerated by the DSWD for which they impleaded Tumaroy in the complaint.

The complainants insisted that their daughter was really born in Biliran Province last October 28, 1988 and not on October 28, 1989 as shown in the documents that the IJM forced them to sign.

The couple said that their daughter was already 18 years old when she was rescued by the operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation last June 14, 2007.

In their affidavit, dated Feb. 21 prepared by lawyer Rolindo Navarro, the complainants said their daughter was actually charged with a crime but was able to post bail with the help of Saturinas and his lawyer Andito Escoton.

But despite having posted bail their daughter was not released but was instead brought by Luna and Pelone to their office and halfway house in Cebu City where she was kept against her will. 

Their daughter however escaped from the IJM custody while she was being brought to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and returned to her boarding house in Lapu-Lapu City.

However the IJM tracked her down and forced her to come back to Cebu City. The Dasigans said that their daughter was eventually placed under DSWD custody with Tumaroy as her custodian and officer-in-charge Artemia Degamo. — Fred P. Languido/BRP (THE FREEMAN)