Police save 2 girls from prostitution

CEBU, Philippines – Police have detained a woman due to suspicions of involvement in the alleged trafficking of two girls aged 15 and 17 years old.

The two girls were promised work in a KTV bar in Iloilo City but in truth were to work as prostitutes, another girl, who had escaped from the prostitution den, told police Mandaue City Police Office director Sr./Supt. Noel Gillamac.

As the girls arrived in Iloilo Monday, men from the Regional Maritime Office-6 were there to meet them after being alerted by Sr./Insp Mitchie Gabod of the Women's desk of MCPO who had also emailed photos of the two girls to them.

The girls were in the company of a woman named "Mitch" when they arrived in the city.

They are expected to return to Mandaue today with the help of the International Justice Mission (IJM), which shouldered the girls' boat fares.

IJM will also assist the girls in filing cases against those involved in the alleged crime.

The rescue came about after one of the parents of the girls went to the office of the Investigative and Detective Management Bureau (IDMB) to report that her daughter was missing.

The parent told P/Insp. Mae Anne Florenosos of IDMB that her daughter was last seen in the company of a certain Emily Fernandez, 43, married, and a resident of sitio Sta. Cruz, barangay Guizo, Mandaue.

Promptly, the police went to Fernandez's house in Guizo.

Fernandez cooperated with the police, telling them she received money from a person in Iloilo which was intended for the girls' fare to Iloilo. She is being detained. (FREEMAN)