2 pimps meted 20-year jail term for trafficking

CEBU, Philippines - Two pimps in Barangay Kamagayan were sentenced to suffer 20 years imprisonment after they were found guilty of human trafficking.

Regional Trial Court Branch 6 Judge Ester Veloso also ordered Ramonito Alinsog and Ronald Ramos to pay P1 million each as fine.

The two were arrested during an entrapment operation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation in the evening of October 22, 2007 in Barangay Kamagayan.

The NBI operatives led by Special Investigator Reynaldo Villordon acted on the intelligence report provided to them by the International Justice Mission about the rampant human trafficking cases in the area.

Based on the information provided by the IJM, the pimps operating in Kamagayan are regularly profiting from trafficked women and children which they sold to customers for sexual pleasures.

According to the information, most of these women and children were recruited from Mindanao and Negros. They were allegedly offered a better paying job in Cebu City but ended up as prostitutes.

The pimps would house the victims in a room where they were asked to pay a monthly rental.

“The fees would usually put them in debt and they were obliged to stay until they could pay off their debt. Often they were forced to provide sexual services to customers against their will.”

A surveillance operation was immediately conducted. For three days the NBI operatives observed the operations of Alinsog and Ramos before they were finally arrested.

Villordon acted as tourist guide looking for women for his male clients. Ramos and Alinsog closed a deal with Villordon saying they have six women available.

The accused then fetched the women and accompanied the undercover NBI agent to the hotel where the supposed clients are waiting. After the accused accepted the marked money, supposedly as payment for the services of the six women, they were immediately placed under arrest.

The accused denied the charges but they were pinned down by the testimonies of the women who testified against them.   (FREEMAN NEWS)