FIVE suspected pimps were arrested while eight women were rescued during an anti-human trafficking operation in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City, Cebu at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019.
The suspects were identified as Jessica Sodareo, 49; Diome Mission, 50; Danilo Bangkaya, 60; Raul Barcosa, 46; and Rene Diacomos, 34.
Sodareo, Mission and Bangkaya are all from Talisay City. Barcosa and Diacomos hail from Cebu City and Minglanilla, respectively.
Talisay City Police Station Chief P/Maj. Gerard Ace Pelare said his office received reports about the suspects’ illegal activities in Tabunok.
A surveillance yielded an information that the suspects had been pimping for several years already.
The police station’s Women and Children’s Protection Desk personnel had coordinated with the Talisay City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) before they conducted the entrapment.
Several police officers pretended to be customers. After the suspects received payments, they were arrested and the women were rescued.
The suspects will be charged with violating Republic Act (RA) 9208 (Anti-Trafficking in Persons), as amended by RA 10364 (Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons), before the Talisay City Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, Nov. 18.
Pelare said their operation against pimps was their way of helping the government prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.
The rescued women were brought to the CSWDO for counseling. (FMD / KAL)