Cops, group save 11, nab 2

AUTHORITIES rescued 11 sex workers, including a suspected minor, from a bar in Barangay Guizo, Mandaue City last Wednesday night.

The Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) and the International Justice Mission conducted a raid at the Sunrise Bar on A.C. Cortes St. shortly before midnight.

The police arrested the bar’s cashier and the manager, who reportedly stands as owner of the bar.

Names of suspects and victims in human trafficking cases cannot be disclosed under the law.

The suspects, who are detained at the Subangdaku Police Station, will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. The police are set to file the charges at the Mandaue City Prosecutor’s Office today.

The victims are now under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7, said Insp. Sheryl Bautista, chief of the MCPO Women and Children Protection Desk.

Social workers will ask the victims to submit their birth certificates. The victims might also be subjected to dental examinations to determine their ages.

Bautista, in an interview, said authorities started monitoring the bar last year.

When their surveillance confirmed that the bar engaged in sex trade, Bautista said she coordinated with the Investigation and Detection Management Branch, the Centro Police Station and the DSWD to conduct an entrapment.

On Wednesday night, a police decoy went to the bar and paid P3,600 for the services of three women. When the cashier accepted the money, the police team immediately arrested her and the manager.

Some of the rescued victims were from Leyte and Bacolod, Bautista said.

Bautista said they requested the Department of Labor and Employment to close the establishment. She added they are monitoring other establishments for similar activities.