DOJ orders release of 3 Japanese in ‘cybersex den’ raid

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has ordered the release of three Japanese nationals arrested in a suspected cybersex den in Pangasinan last week due to the flawed complaint filed by the police.

In a six-page resolution last Friday, investigating prosecutors said the police were not able to submit evidence in filing the charges against Takayuki Umeda, 42; Jyunko Wang, 36; and Masahiro Kishigami, 26, for supposed violations of Republic Act 10364 (Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012).

“The complaint affidavit of the arresting officers merely stated that the police officers implemented the search warrant issued by the (Pangasinan) court. Nowhere in the said affidavit was it shown how the crime of trafficking in persons was committed,” read the DOJ resolution signed by Assistant Prosecutors Gilmarie Fe Pacamarra and Mark Roland Estepa.

“It would have been more prudent, to say the least, for the police officers to have presented the witnesses and/or submitted the affidavits that were used in the application of the search warrant from the Regional Trial Court of San Carlos City, Pangasinan. This, they do not do,” it said.

Apart from the three Japanese, also ordered released were the four locals who were arrested and charged with them: Erlinda Tandoc, Leonora Ceralde, Josephine Gille, and Rafael Tandoc.

The DOJ panel, however, did not immediately dismiss the charges and instead gave the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission a chance to present evidence in a hearing on April 2.

It only dismissed the separate charge of illegal possession of firearm against the respondents after the police admitted that the confiscated .22-caliber revolver was not part of the search warrant and failed to produce documents to show that the gun had no license.

The three Japanese and four Filipinos were arrested in a raid on the Japanese learning school of Kame Hachi Corp. in Lingayen, Pangasinan last March 17.

Police seized six laptops, 55 desktops, 44 CPUs, a Toyota Grandia, a .22-caliber revolver, webcams, headsets, UPS, USB, five mobile phones, passports, ATM cards, transaction payments, and cash in pesos and yen.

The learning school allegedly operated a porn site, which enticed Japanese men to come to Manila for sexual favors.