A 66-YEAR-OLD Danish national was arrested on Wednesday night, November 1, for allegedly bringing a minor to a beach resort in Barangay Estaca, Compostela, Cebu.
Josef Bertelsen was caught by the team led by Senior Inspector Junafe Vergara, the town police chief.
The team rescued the 17-year-old girl, a native of Sibonga, Cebu. She was brought to the social welfare office for counseling.
Investigation showed the girl met the foreigner through an online dating website early this year.
On Wednesday afternoon, the girl and her adult sister met with the foreigner in a mall in Cebu City. He later allegedly invited them to take a swim in a beach resort which they obliged.
After they arrived in the resort, Bertelsen allegedly brought them into a private room.
The resort staff, sensing the foreigner was bringing a minor, reported him to the police station and his arrest followed.
A foreigner who is caught in the company of a minor who is not his relative violates Republic Act (RA) 7610, or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.
Section 10 (b) of RA 7610 prohibits any person to be in the company of “a minor, 12 years or under or who is 10 years or more his junior in any public or private place, hotel, motel, beer joint, discotheque, cabaret, pension house, sauna or massage parlor, beach and/or other tourist resort or similar places.”
Vergara said they will file human trafficking charges against the foreigner.