Police arrest man for pimping minor

CEBU, Philippines - For allegedly pimping male minors, police arrested a man during an entrapment operation Thursday night in an uptown hotel in Cebu City.

Eul Vincent Rodriguez, 27, a resident of Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City, was arrested by operatives of the Regional Intelligence Division and Regional Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force.

Inspector Sheryl Bautista said they used a decoy who contacted Rodriguez pretending to be interested in young men for sex in exchange for P10,000. She said the decoy asked Rodriguez to meet with him in a hotel in uptown Cebu.

After they met, the decoy handed over the P10,000 marked money to Rodriguez who brought with him a 14-year-old boy whom he referred to as his "alaga". When Rodriguez received the marked money from the decoy RID-7 and RAHTTF-7 operatives immediately arrested him.

Bautista said Rodriguez is on the watch list of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for his alleged activities.

Upon receiving information from the US ICE, they started their surveillance operation on Rodriguez as early as December last year that led to his arrest last Thursday night.

She said that Rodriguez would find customers from the Internet, either from pornographic websites or from the social media sites.

RID chief Supt. Paul Labra II said they are currently monitoring other pimps in the city.

In an interview with the media, Rodriguez admitted that he is a pimp, and that he has 14 more minors in his den. He said that he got the idea from his neighbors who were also engaged in this kind of trade.

"Nahibung ko nadato man akong mga silingan nga bayot, mao na nga giapil ko," said Rodriguez.

He said that he also grooms the boy he brought to the hotel to join gay beauty pageants as well.  —/BRP (FREEMAN)