ANOTHER batch of would-be victims of human trafficking was rescued by the authorities in the city, the police reported Wednesday.
Superintendent Ricardo Garcia, Police Station 7 chief, said the joint police and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel arrested an alleged cohort of the illegal recruiters when they rescued the 11 would-be victims around 1 p.m. Tuesday at a house in the village of Cabatangan.
Garcia said the would-be victims, who were recruited to work in Malaysia, were all females whose ages range from 18 to 40.
The victims were from Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu; Quezon province; Buug, Zamboanga Del Sur; Mabitac, Laguna; Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte; Cagayan Valley; Mangkayan, Benguet; Tayabas, Quezon; Isabela; and Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.
The group was rescued at the residence of Pedro Brillantes, who was taken into custody by the local police for investigation, he said.
According to Garcia, Brillantes is liable under the law for allowing the use of his residence as temporary shelter of the would-be victims while in transit to Malaysia.
Brillantes denied any knowledge and involvement in the recruitment of the would-be victims although the alleged recruiters are her two daughters.
Garcia said Brillantes’s daughters remain at large as they were not around when the joint police and coast guard personnel rescued the would-be victims.
The rescue of the group on Tuesday came a day after the police have rescued a group of 25 would-be human trafficking victims who were about to depart from this city.