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Saturday, February 04, 2006
6 ‘Celebrity’ girls escape from DSWD facility
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday confirmed reports that six teenaged girls billeted in its P. del Rosario St. halfway house are missing.
The disappearance was discovered Sunday night but, according to National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 Chief Medardo de Lemos, the DSWD has not formally informed them of what had happened “even until now.”
DSWD personnel, together with representatives of other offices that belong to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat), met with de Lemos at the NBI headquarters yesterday.
The meeting was to facilitate better coordination between the group and the NBI, which has conducted a series of anti-trafficking raid against bars, but the disappearance of the six girls was “not part of the agenda.”
The girls work as dancers and guest relations officers of the Cebu Celebrity Club.
The NBI raided the club last Jan. 26 to enforce Republic Act 9208, the anti-trafficking in persons law.
The midnight raid resulted in the rescue of 15 women who were then brought to the DSWD halfway house. The six teenagers were part of the group.
Not allowed
While the other women were given the option to go home, the teenagers were not allowed to leave the halfway center until their parents could come and take them home. The girls opted to escape.
“We are not a detention facility. The girls apparently climbed down the wall with the help of blankets tied together,” said DSWD director Ted Romo Jr.
“We are trying to locate them now. We have contacted their parents and they have promised to bring the children to us once they come home,” he said.
Secure facility
Romo said the DSWD is now trying to identify ways to better secure its halfway house.
De Lemos, for his part, said the NBI will do what it can in trying to recover the missing welfare department wards.
The NBI 7 chief, though, maintained that the meeting with the Iacat member agencies had a positive result, as the group assured to assist the NBI.
He said a non-government organization within the council has expressed its intent to help.
“Right now, we need help accommodating those women we bring in from the raided bars. We cannot turn them over to the DSWD and their halfway house until the next morning. They have to endure staying overnight in our office here,” he said. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 4, 2006 issue)
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