Following persistent complaints regarding male prostitutes loitering in the downtown area, the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch conducted a saturation drive in areas reportedly frequented by these men and arrested 13 men and eight women.
CIIB chief Sr. Insp. George Ylanan and Insp. Aileen Recla led the operation along Colon and Magallanes streets yesterday dawn.
Some of the men were from outside Cebu City and reportedly failed to explain their presence in the streets during the early hours.
The arrested males, ranged from 19 to 49 years old while the women were between 20 to 33 years old, all were brought to the CIIB office for vagrancy.
A few days ago, Rene Josef Bullecer, chairman of the Cebu Anti-Indecency Board and chairman of the Aids-Free Philippines, called the attention of the police to alleged male prostitutes visibly operating in the city.
In another operation of the same unit, eight video karera and moli-moli gambling machines were seized from the interior portion of barangay Carreta after informants gave their locations last Friday evening.
SPO1 Alfredo Petallar of the CIIB also arrested a man earlier that same day for having two packs of suspected shabu in sitio Plastikan, barangay Duljo-Fatima.
The CIIB also confiscated coco lumber from unidentified men in barangay Paril last Friday in the afternoon.
Ylanan said they received a report that men were cutting coconut trees in the area prompting him to verify with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources if a permit was issued.
But when the team of SPO1 Adonis Dumpit arrived, the men reportedly scampered away upon seeing Dumpit who was then carrying a shotgun and left their lumber that was about to be loaded onto a truck.
Ylanan said they found the driver and asked him to bring the lumber back to Cebu City as they did not have a vehicle big enough to carry it.
They were eventually able to persuade the driver to do so after saying he will not be arrested because the cut lumber had yet to be loaded onto the truck.
Dumpit told The FREEMAN that DENR requires a permit to cut coconut trees even on private property. — Edwin Ian Melecio/BRP