AUTHORITIES arrested a 33-year-old suspected online trafficker during an entrapment operation on Saturday, Feb. 16, after he offered two underage boys for commercial sexual exploitation.
Members of the Women and Children Protection Center – Visayas Field Unit (WCPC-VFU) of the Philippine National Police caught the suspect, identified as Joey Michael Donozo, in the act of offering the minors, ages nine and 14, for sexual abuse by a foreigner.
The operation took place at a fast food joint in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City at around 5 p.m. Police and social workers rescued the two minors.
Donozo also previously transmitted online some sexually explicit images involving one of the boys in exchange for money from online predators.
Following the entrapment operation, authorities searched the neighborhood for four more boys who were previously offered for in-person and online sexual exploitation.
All four boys—aged 12, 13, 13, and 14—were found and rescued.
The arrest and rescue operation was a result of a case referral from the Australian Federal Police to the PNP.
According to the referral, the suspect had been arranging for foreigners to meet underage boys in person for sexually explicit acts.
He had also filmed underage boys in sexually explicit acts and had himself sexually abused the victims.
“Young vulnerable Filipino boys were sexually exploited online and in person just so a pimp could earn easy money selling the body and dignity of precious children. Praise God for the WCPC police unit that continues to courageously rescue children from the clutches of sexual depravity and send the arrested abusers and traffickers to jail to await justice for their crimes,” said lawyer John Tanagho, the International Justice Mission (IJM) field office director.
The WCPC-VFU operation was supported by the Department of Social Welfare and Development 7, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking 7, the Cebu City Police Office’s Special Weapons and Tactics and Women and Children Protection Desk, and the IJM.
“To those who are engaging in online sexual exploitation of children, you should stop your illegal activity now because the WCPC Visayas Field Unit will catch and bring you to the court of law,” Senior Supt. Perigo had warned after a previous operation.
The children are now in the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and are receiving proper trauma-informed interventions.
Hours before the operation in Cebu City, two suspects, a male and female, were also arrested in their Taguig home for offering to sexually exploit children online to customers abroad in exchange for money.
Their names are withheld due to their relationship with some of the victims.
Five girls who were offered to online clients were rescued. A one-year-old baby was found at the scene and was also removed.
Online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) is a serious threat to children and is a devastating form of modern-day slavery.
Nearly 50 percent of the victims are 12 years old or younger.
Occurring in communities all over the Philippines, OSEC is a crime that violates the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act or Republic Act (RA) 9308 (as amended by RA 10364), which comes with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of P2 million to P5 million.
Typical OSEC offenses also violate RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) and RA 9775 (Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009). Both have penalties equivalent to 20 to 40 years imprisonment.
As of January 2019, IJM has supported Philippine law enforcement agencies in the arrest of 183 OSEC perpetrators and in the rescue of 429 victims around the country since 2011. (PR)