Police rescue 12 girls from sex den in Sta. Cruz

Police rescued 12 young girls from a prostitution house in Sta. Cruz, Manila the other night, but failed to arrest the alleged maintainer of the sex den.

Senior Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, chief of the Western Police District-District Police Intelligence Unit (WPD-DPIU), said he received information that a house at Interior C, Rizal Avenue in Sta. Cruz was being frequented by male visitors at night and leaving the place with young girls in tow.

Following several nights of surveillance, DPIU operatives, led by Inspector Angel de Leon, raided the house and surprised the 12 young girls who were waiting for the arrival of customers.

Also arrested were three pimps, the oldest at 19. The three, however, denied acting as pimps but said they were relatives of the rescued girls.

The girls, aged 17 and 18, told investigator PO2 Manuel Pimentel that they were recruited by a certain "Ate Flor" from their home province in Samar to work as salesgirls and factory workers in Manila. However, upon their arrival in the city they were locked up inside the Sta. Cruz house and offered to male customers for a fee, the girls said.

One of the girls told The STAR that she was paid P1,000 for every customer, P500 of which goes to Ate Flor.

However, some of the girls had a different tale to tell. The most vocal of the group said she and the others willingly worked there to escape poverty from their small town in Samar.

The 12 girls were charged with vagrancy, while the three pimps were charged with white slavery.

The most defiant among the girls said they would return to work at the same place as soon as they are released since they do not know any other form of work.

Pimentel said he would coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the rehabilitation of the girls.