MANILA, Philippines -- Forty-two sex workers, including a minor, were rescued from a night club in Angeles City, Pampanga Thursday night, police said Friday.
Police also arrested five persons, including three foreigners, who were maintaining the night club in Balibago and charged them with human trafficking.
Superintendent Emma Libunao, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Women and Children Protection Division (CIDG-WCPD), said police swooped down on the Sweet Girl Honey Pot night club on Fields Avenue, Balibago at around 9 p.m. Thursday.
The raid stemmed from a complaint by Ledillia Cortez of Capas, Tarlac, whose 17-year-old niece was reportedly being held at the night club after she left home to look for work last week.
Cortez, in her statement, told investigators that she received a text message from her niece last May 14 pleading for help because the bar's manager was forcing her to a bar fine, a deal which allows male customers to take out female club workers for sexual services elsewhere in exchange for a P1,500 fine.
The 17-year-old girl, whose name was withheld as she is a minor, later told investigators the floor manager kept her from leaving because she owed the club for the uniform.
Libunao said the situation was "a clear manifestation of debt bondage," which was one of the elements of human trafficking. She said that some of the rescued sex workers were recruited from as far as Biliran, Leyte, and Catarman, Samar.
Charges of violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 are being prepared against the arrested suspects, identified as Australians Barry Burston, 69, and Raymond Anderson, 57; New Zealander Michael Watt, 59; Judith Pajaron, 38; and Rossana Almeira, 22.
Police, however, failed to arrest the club owner, identified as Marites Relos.
CIDG director Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said that the raid was part of the drive against human trafficking. On the United States' human trafficking watch list, the Philippines is currently classified as Tier 2, which means human trafficking is rampant here.
