A 32-YEAR-OLD man nicknamed “Sweet” was arrested for allegedly trafficking minors in Sitio Cerculo, Barangay Ticad, Bantayan last Monday night.
The suspect is identified as Godfrey Rayco Yee, said Insp. Mikhail Mallorca, Santa Fe police chief.
The suspect, a native of Barangay Talisay, Santa Fe, transferred to Bantayan after his illegal activity was exposed.
Mallorca said Yee’s victims were mostly underage girls in Talisay and he pimped them to adult males in other towns.
The suspect’s modus was to spend money for minors who liked to party. When the minors are drunk, he would convince them to go with him to other places, not knowing they would be offered for sex in exchange for money.
The arrest was based on the warrant issued last September by Bogo City Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Antonio Marigomen for qualified trafficking, a violation under Republic Act (RA) 9208, or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
No bail was recommended for Yee’s temporary liberty.
RA 9208 punishes any person who “recruits, transports, transfers, harbors, provides, or receives a person by any means, including those done under the pretext of domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage.”
In 2012, the law was amended through RA 10364, or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
Under RA 10364, offenders are no longer covered by the confidentiality clause they enjoyed while RA 9208 was in effect. (KAL)