Author Topic: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol  (Read 7668 times)

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3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« on: May 10, 2014, 12:05:27 PM »
May 3, 2014 10:00pm


Three minors from Butuan City in Mindanao were rescued from a human trafficking ring in Bohol province Friday night, a radio report said Saturday.

Members of the Bohol police and Special Weapons and Tactics teams rescued the three in a house in Barangay Sta. Fe in Alburquerque town, Bombo Radyo reported.

The report quoted SWAT chief Senior Inspector Roland Lavisto as saying the police teams raided the house on the strength of a search warrant from the Loay, Bohol regional trial court.

Investigation showed the three were forced to work in a bar in Tagbilaran City, the report said.

The minors are under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which is looking for their relatives. — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News

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hubag bohol

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2014, 12:10:28 PM »
Human trafficking busted; Bar closed
Written by The Bohol Chronicle



   

A combined team swooped down the residence of the owner of Solid Gold, a night spot in downtown area where minors are hired as guest relations officers (GRO) during the past 12 years.

The owner of the bar was identified as Gerardo Osabel, whose residence in barangay Sta Fe. Alburquerque town yielded at least three minors during the first operation conducted by operatives from the  Provincial Public Safety Company/Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team led by PInsp. Roland Lavisto and a team from the Alburquerque Police Station at 7:30pm last Friday.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2014, 12:11:28 PM »
Meanwhile, City Mayor Baba Yap ordered the closure of the night spot following the rescue of the three minors working as GROs. The identities of the minors were not disclosed by the raiding team.

The combined operation came as a prelude to an expanded police dragnet as the province has been identified as a source of manpower, including minors who are being exploited in the sex trade in big cities in the country.

The Chronicle learned that the raid conducted at Osabel's residence came as an off shot of a revelation done by a 17-year-old victim from Butuan City, Agusan del Norte who managed to escape sometime in September 2012 from Solid Gold. In fact, her ordeal was recorded at the Alburquerque police station a couple of years ago.

The girl had already returned home while authorities pursued their investigation and placed on surveilance the operation of the bar where she used to work.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2014, 12:12:35 PM »
Regional Trial Court (RTC 50-Loay) Presiding Judge Dionisio Calibo Jr. issued the search warrant in relation to Osabel's violation of Republic Act 9208 or Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 as expanded in RA 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012.

Osabel operates the Solid Gold KTV Bar where the 17-year-old victim had escaped way back in 2012.

When operatives swooped down on his residence last Friday evening, only three minors were caught while others could have been been transported to Solid Gold in the city.

After the documentation, the girls were turned over to the local office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) where they will be temporarily stay for the scheduled  debriefing and counseling.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2014, 12:13:41 PM »
The raiding team also recovered a Caspian caliber .45 pistol with serial no. 228427, firearm License Card which is subject for verification, permit to carry firearms outside residence,  three magazines of caliber 45, and 19 live ammunition of caliber .45.

The raid was witnessed by his wife, Rizalina Aventorado Osabel, Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office head Carmelita Tecson, DOLE-Bohol's German Guidaben, Barangay Councilor Ranulfo Bitoy and Barangay Captain Benedicto Cabanlit and Mike Ligalig of the local media.

Lavisto's team brought Osabel to Camp Dagohoy and was examined by a physician from Ramiro Community Hospital.

The medical check up showed that he had high blood pressure and in consideration that he had once suffered a stroke, Osabel was issued the permission to be admitted at the Englewood Hospital in Baclayon with a police escort.

Lavisto said that based on the information they gathered, Osabel is from Mindanao where he was suspected to have hired several women to work at his bar in the city.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2014, 12:14:59 PM »
The escape of the 17-year-old girl in 2012 spilled the beans and only confirmed the extent of the prostitution in the province.

According to the victim, they were housed in Osabel's property in barangay Sta. Fe, Alburquerque and a service vehicle would transport them to Solid Gold Bar at night.

MINORS AS GROs

Bar fine, lady's drink and an alias to hide one's identitythe routine method in a club where minors, mostly  from Mindanao ended up in a search for greener pasture in Bohol.

A recruiter came to their village and convinced their parents that a decent job awaits them in Bohol to help augment the family's income. However, the skimpy suit, as required by the floor manager, surprised them.

As their first night of duty unfolded, the girls realized their role was to lure men and buy them lady's drinks.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2014, 12:15:38 PM »
The girls would project themselves from a dark corner of the KTV bar and the customers would choose who they want for company in the table. For every lady's drink that the customer would buy at P150, the girl gets P50.

Another service offered is sex wherein the customer would pay a bar fine of P1,500, of which P500 goes to the girl. The girls would line for a “show-up” and the customer picks out who to take out. The GROs can also be taken to a VIP room, if the customer wants with the same deal on the lady's drink in addition to the rent for the room.

CLOSURE ORDER

City Mayor Yap issued yesterday a closure order for Solid Gold following the arrest of three minors working in said city night spot.

Authorities from City Hall padlocked the establishment last night as there was nobody to receive the closure order when it was served earlier during the day. The closure order will be enforced while investigation will continue on why minors were hired at the night pub.

City Hall will check tomorrow the real identities and ages of the workers of Solid Gold, most of whom are not revealing their real identities to their customers.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2014, 12:26:21 PM »

Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines
May 4, 2014


Solid Gold sex ‘farm' busted!


For 12 years, nobody has the faintest idea that a three-storey building at the corner of E. Jacinto and H. Grupo Streets is maintaining a “sex farm” somewhere in Barangay Sta. Fe, Alburquerque town. Until Friday night when a combined posse of SWAT operatives and personnel of both Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) swooped down on the unsuspecting residential house yielding three young girls. Just like in big league basketball, a professional team has its own “farm team,” where it sources its players en route to the professional league. Believed to be victims of human trafficking, the three young girls were found to have been working at a popular night outpost known as Solid Gold KTV Bar. The three girls were rescued by SWAT forces Friday night from the bar owner's residential house in Barangay Sta. Fe, Alburquerque town.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2014, 12:27:56 PM »
Losing no time, City Mayor John Geesnell “Baba” Yap immediately ordered the closure of Solid Gold KTV Bar, which for the last 12 years has been renting for P21,000 a month the second and third floors of an old commercial building near Tagbilaran City Square. Mayor Yap's order, as confirmed by City Administrator Edi Borja, was served by the city police and City Hall officials shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday. “Since the owner was not around last night, the assigned security guard received the order and complied with it,” Borja told Bohol Sunday Post last night. “If found in violation of city and national laws, Solid Bar KTV Bar will be permanently closed,” Borja said. Meanwhile, Geraldo “Gerry” Osabel, owner of Solid Gold Bar, will be facing a non-bailable offense in relation to his alleged spearheading of illegal recruitment of young girls from Mindanao who were forced to work at his bar, according to Police Senior Inspector Roland Desiree Lavisto, head of the Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) and Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) of the Bohol Provincial Office (BPPO).

The lure of big money must have encouraged the young girls from Mindanao to cross the Bohol seas to find employment. Easily swayed by the sugar-coated sales pitches of human trafficking recruiters, the young girls have no second thoughts saying yes to the lucrative offer of potential employment. By the sight of the palatial mansion, owned by Osabel, which is made as living quarters of sex workers, the young girls were then convinced to work in the KTV Bar as guest relations officers (GRO). Nothing wrong there if they were just allowed as far as servicing the needs of customers like serving them food and drinks. The arrangement becomes scandalous when the girls are allowed to go out with customers for a “one night stand.” What is worst in working in the KTV bar is when the girls were used as conduits in alleged illegal drug sales. In the case of the Solid Gold GRO joint, drug transactions are said to be going on between the girls and drug users, according to a classified police intelligent memo. That makes the establishment fronting as a drug den aside from being a source of sexual services, the intelligence report said.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2014, 12:28:52 PM »
On the other hand, the three rescued girls are now under the custody of the provincial DSWD office. They are among the more than ten young girls monitored by SWAT and planned to be rescued from what the police said “sex den” of Osabel's Solid Gold Bar. The three were intercepted by SWAT forces while being transported by their bouncers at a barangay in Baclayon. They were later brought back to the house of Osabel in Albur where the search warrant was served by the police. Regional Trial Court Judge Dionisio Calibo on April 28, 2014 issued the search warrant based on a strong evidence presented by the police that Osabel has allegedly violated Republic Act 9208, which has been amended as RA 10364, or the law on anti-human trafficking, an offense strongly condemned by the United Nations (UN) and the international community of free nations. During the application of the search warrant, Calibo was presented with an authenticated copy of a police blotter from Albur Police Station which revealed that sometime in September 2012 a 17-year old girl, reportedly converted into a “sex slave,” jumped over the fence of Osabel's house and sought help from Albur residents and the police.

The girl (name withheld) was recruited from Libertad, Butuan City by an unidentified agent of Osabel who convinced the innocent girl that a decent job with a good pay awaited her in Bohol. But the girl, to her surprise, landed a sordid job at Solid Gold Bar. According to statements extracted by the police from the victim, she was one of the sex workers at Solid Gold who had felt hopeless of escaping from a grimy underworld. Police record showed that the young girl, together with other young women who were kept at the house of Osabel, was transported to Solid Gold Bar every night from Osabel's palatial residence in Albur. The victim said she had no means of escaping from the clutches of Osabel since there are guards at Solid Gold who kept an eye on them. “We believe that these young girls are forced to enter into prostitution after they were being illegally recruited from outside the province of Bohol,” Lavisto told station DYTR and DYRD's Tagbilaran-By-Nite Program. “We have been monitoring the operations of Solid Gold Bar,” Lavisto said, “and we conclude that they are doing something illegal in violation of a national law, which is the anti-human trafficking law.”

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2014, 12:29:37 PM »
Lavisto, upon orders of Bohol PNP Director Police Senior Superintendent Dennis P. Agustin, got wind of the plight of the 17-year old girl from Butuan City during an anti-human trafficking seminar he had attended. He said a source had tipped him off that Solid Gold Bar has been engaging in human trafficking. Sources said Lavisto and his SWAT men have been tailing the ins and outs of “sex slaves” at Solid Gold Bar since last year. “We had to complete first all the legal procedures and requirements before we conducted this raid,” Lavisto said. “We believe that we got is just a tip of the iceberg.” Witnessing the inventory of the raid were provincial DOLE head Gerry Guidaben, provincial DSWD head Carmelita Tecson, members of Bohol media, and two barangay officials of Albur. Guidaben, in an interview over station DYTR and DYRD's Tagbilaran-By-Nite, has called on the public to be vigilant over illegal recruitment. The DOLE chief said that the despicable act of human trafficking may masquerade as good job offers. “Kinahanglan magbantay ta ug mag-amping ta sa mga tawo nga motanyag ug trabaho nga dili ta segurado sa kapadulngan. Ang atong buhatan sa DOLE kanunay nga bukas alang sa inyong mga pangutana,” Guidaben said over the radio.

Tecson said the DSWD would conduct a debriefing on the rescued girls. She said the DSWD, as the leading agency that protects the plight of trafficked young women, will closely coordinate with the Bohol PNP in the investigation and in the filing of appropriate charges against the perpetrators of human trafficking and prostitution. Meanwhile, Col. Agustin has warned illegal recruiters and human traffickers that the Bohol Police Provincial Office would use the might of the law in order to spare Bohol from becoming a dumpsite of “sex slaves” from Mindanao, or any part of the country for that matter. Agustin, who has ordered daily raids and buy-busts on illegal drug peddlers all over Bohol, has called on the Boholano people and all the officials of Bohol to help the police in sustaining the peace and order situation here and in protecting the province from the clout of criminals. “Alagaan natin ang Bohol. Isa lang ang Bohol. Kasama tayong lahat na itaguyod ang kapayapaan at kabutihan sa buong probinsya natin,” Agustin told the media during an earlier interview. Meanwhile, City Administrator Borja said that the city government would not tolerate any illegal operation involving minors. “The administration of City Mayor Baba Yap, in cooperation with the City Police Office led by Police Supt. Jovito Atanacio, will not allow human traffickers to thrive in Tagbilaran,” Borja said in an interview. “We are going to conduct more investigations into this kind of entertainment, and rest assured that we will not allow Tagbilaran become a haven of sex slaves,” Borja said.

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2014, 12:25:00 AM »
despicable. right in one's backyard. ugh. :(

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2014, 02:42:18 PM »
Hmm, wa ba kahay suki nga atong kaberks...

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Re: 3 minors rescued from human trafficking in Bohol
« Reply #13 on: May 20, 2014, 02:17:16 AM »
Basin ang nangutana ;Djoke lang..

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Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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