Monday, October 13, 2008
2 women face charges for trafficking minors
TWO women were charged with large scale trafficking in persons last week after National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents raided a bar last February.
The NBI agents and social workers from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) rescued eight allegedly trafficked women, six of whom are minors.
Five of the minors are aged 16 while one is 14.
The girls admitted their job was to dance in “skimpy clothes.” They said the bar owner and the pimp, the two who were indicted in the charges, also allowed them to be taken out by customers for the night.
In separate affidavits, six of the girls said the two accused repeatedly reminded them to “perform well” whenever customers took them out for sex.
For every P2,700 that a customer pays to take a girl out, the girl gets P1,000, P1,200 goes to the bar and P500 to their recruiter, according to the rescued dancers.
Undercover NBI agents raided the bar on February 26, acting on a request from the International Justice Mission (IJM).
Legal aid
The IJM provides legal assistance to victims of human trafficking, especially women and children.
The agents reportedly paid to take out three of the dancers, using marked bills in paying.
At that point, the NBI agents then turned the music off, turned the lights on, introduced themselves and announced the raid.
Joy (not her real name), 14, said she had only been working at the bar for six days when the agents conducted their operation.
She said she lied about her age to the owner when she applied for the job. She said it was the instruction of her recruiter.
For her part, “Mae,” 19, used to work as a house help in Barili, Cebu.
She was 18 when she started working at the bar. But she said that when she applied as a dancer, nobody interviewed her or asked her about her age.
Cebu City Prosecutor II Maria Luisa Ratilla charged the two suspects with violation of Republic Act 9208, or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, for “maintaining a person to take out a girl for sexual intercourse in exchange for money”.
Under RA 9208, trafficking in persons is a non-bailable crime. (KAB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (October 13, 2008 issue)
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