Another Baguio City brothel raided

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Another Baguio brothel disguised as a massage parlor was raided by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation-Cordillera (NBI-CAR) and anti-trafficking NGO Exodus Road-Philippines.

Fourteen women were rescued last Wednesday along the red-light district at lower Bokawkan Road, about 100 meters away from a police station.

Three employees were caught, and had been indicted, for qualified trafficking in persons including the massage parlor’s owners, among them a barangay councilor.

Darryl Kim Longid, deputy chief of the Baguio City Mayor’s Office Public Order and Safety Division, claimed they had no idea about the illicit activity on PJ’s Massage and Bar. 

Longid added it was not even in their mandate to monitor such activities.

Social workers of the Baguio City’s Office of the Social Welfare (OCSWDO) accompanied the women, who are mostly from the Visayas, for processing and appropriate intervention after undercover NBI agents confirmed that the women were being paid for sex.

NBI-CAR agents said they found at least 15 makeshift rooms, four of which were small cubicles where massages are offered with “extra services”.

Lawyer Janet Francisco, NBI-CAR regional director, vowed no let-up in their drive against human trafficking in Baguio City and the highland region.

Exodus Road-Philippines country director Salvador Bartido, who was with the raiding team, thanked the NBI-CAR agents under the leadership of Francisco “for continuing the fight versus human trafficking in the Cordillera and setting these women free”.

He added, “We’re so glad that the women rescued will have a change to start anew.”

Authorities said the registered owner of the establishment, Joel Rellin, will be facing human trafficking charges on Monday with a certain “Jess” who worked as manager and cashier of the establishment. Jess managed to escape from the raid.

Last January, 11 women were also rescued from two massage parlors along Upper Magsaysay Avenue, around 30 meters away from a police station.