ZAMBOANGA City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) officer Ma. Socorro Rojas denied that one of the two suspected illegal recruiters arrested here is personnel of her office.
Rojas said the suspect is a volunteer village health worker and “not a social worker nor an employee of CSWDO.”
She declined to name the suspect, who was caught serving food to the women, not knowing they were victims of human trafficking.
The local police identified the arrested suspected illegal recruiters as Ruel Donayre, 29 and Girlie Ignacio, 43, both residents of Sitio Pook in the village of Cabaluay, Zamboanga City.
The police said the suspects were recently arrested at a resort in Cabaluay village.
Six human trafficking victims were rescued when the suspects were arrested at the resort.
The rescued victims, who are all women, were from Rizal province, Laguna, Baguio City, and Manila.
The youngest among them is 19 and the oldest is 28 years old.
Rojas is planning to conduct an anti-human trafficking awareness campaign among workers of resorts, hotels and motels in the city, where most trafficking victims are billeted before departure to other countries via the southern back door. (SunStar Philippines)