CIDG busts Korean escort service ring

MANILA, Philippines -  The Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) rescued Monday night 10 women from a Korean escort service ring operating in Manila and arrested five suspects.

CIDG director Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said they apprehended Marian Andog Bagonoc, 25, Petronilo Barin, 45; Juan Carlo Endriga, 35; and security guards Roberto Alburo and Carlito Yu. Another suspect, Mihn Byong Kil, Bagonoc’s Korean boyfriend, escaped.

Pagdilao said Kil and Bagonoc operated the Little Orange Massage Service, an escort service ring that fronts as a home service massage provider for Korean clients. According to the CIDG, the massage service often places an advertisement in Korean magazines.

The CIDG said once a client makes an inquiry about the massage service by telephone, the call is received at the ring’s “office” at the Hyatt Manila Residential Suite.

The CIDG said after receiving the call, Bagonoc would call Barin, the caretaker of a unit at Villa Veronica Condominium, where the women escorts were being held. The condominium is along Taal street in Malate, Manila.

Barin will then dispatch Endriga, who will drive the escort to her client at a pre-arranged hotel or inn.

Police said most of the escorts were recruited from the Visayas region. According to the CIDG, the clients are charged P200 per hour.

At about 7 p.m. Monday, CIDG agents arrested Endriga as he accompanied a woman into a Malate hotel. The CIDG said three women who escaped from the escort service ring tipped them off.

Following Endriga’s arrest, the CIDG raided the condominium, rescued the women and arrested Bagonoc.

According to the CIDG, the two Hyatt Manila Residential Suite security guards were also arrested for preventing the entry of the raiding team. Police said the two-hour delay in the operation enabled Kil to escape.

Police said the management of Villa Veronica Condominium and the Hyatt Manila Residential Suite will also be charged for violating the human trafficking law.