DOLE padlocks club in Pasay

MANILA, Philippines -  Operatives from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking in Persons (IACAT) have padlocked a Pasay City club earlier raided for employing minors and violating human trafficking.    

Miss Universal Disco Theater and KTV located at 2374 F.B. Harrison street where 20 floor managers, supervisors and employees were arrested and 90 women victims including 14 minors were rescued, was padlocked upon orders of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), a member agency of the IACAT.

Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar, head of IACAT, said establishments fronting for prostitution and employing minors will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as provided by RA 9208 or the Anti-Human Trafficking law.

“It is the government’s responsibility to protect its’ citizens from all forms of exploitation be it labor and sexual. Slavery has no room for a civilized country like the Philippines,” Salazar said.

Last May 3, an IACAT composite team led by the National Bureau of Investigation- Anti Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) and the International Justice Movement (IJM), a private sector partner of IACAT, raided Miss Universal after months of surveillance proved positive that women and even minors where being peddled for prostitution thereat.  

Miss Universal according to AHTRAD, has lewd dance shows utilizing young girls and openly promoting sex services in exchange for cash.  

IJM said, the club was not only employing minors but also employing minors for purposes of prostitution and sexual exploitation. The owner of the club is still at large.