Eight women rescued from pimp in Moalboal

CEBU, Philippines - The Regional Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force rescued eight women including a 17-year-old and another woman with hearing impairment during an entrapment operation in Moalboal town yesterday morning.

Senior Insp. Ma. Theresa Macatangay, chief of RATFF, said the suspect, a resident of Moalboal and an alleged pimp, was caught with the girls in an entrapment operation in Barangay Poblacion, Moalboal, at 9 a.m. yesterday.

Aside from the 17-year-old two other women rescued were suspected to be minors, said Macatangay.

The girls came from different places in Cebu such as Danao City, and the towns of Liloan and, Alcantara and Barangay Panagsama in Moalboal.

Macatangay said they have yet to interview the girls, who are now under custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The RAHTFF rescued the girls because the suspect was pimping them yesterday, said Macatangay.

“She brought along the girls because she let the customers choose among her girls,” explained Macatangay.

The RATFF chief revealed that the price of the girls would go as high as P5,000 depending on how much the customers, who are usually foreigners, could afford.

“We are still not sure if they (rescued girls) are aware of it or if they were forced to accompany these foreigners. We will still have to talk with them,” said Macatangay.

Macatangay said a concerned citizen who didn’t identify himself called up their office and tipped them off about the suspect allegedly delivering girls to foreigners in different resorts in Cebu and even in Bohol.

The suspect allegedly operated alone, but is already an established pimp since she covers the whole Cebu and even in some resorts in Bohol, said Macatangay.

She said she placed the suspect under two weeks’ surveillance and found her pimping activities to be true.

A police decoy acted as a customer and pretended to rent the services of one of the girls, which led to the suspect’s arrest. She didn’t resist as police took her in.

From Moalboal, the suspect and the rescued girls were brought to Cebu City.

As a standard operating procedure, the suspect was brought to the Cebu City Medical Center for a check-up and will undergo tactical interrogation.

The suspect, when sought for comment, denied being a pimp, saying she and the rescued girls were her friends.

Nevertheless, she said she will face the case because she is confident she didn’t violate any law.

“Bahala na ang Ginoo sa mga tawo na nagtudlo nako nga usa ko ka bugaw,” she lamented.

The suspect was temporarily detained at the Fuente Police Station while a case of Republic Act 9208 as amended by RA 10364 or the Expanded Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012 is being prepared against her.

Just last July 21, two Cebuanas aged 14 and 17 were also rescued in Tibiao, Antique, where they were allegedly forced to work as entertainers in a bar instead of working as babysitters as promised. —/BRP (FREEMAN)