Authorities identified the suspect as Pien Piendo Lu, 45, of 78 11th Avenue, Caloocan City. Police are still looking for Lu’s common-law-wife, Anita Payag, 31, tagged as an accomplice by the victims, aged 13 and 15. The young girls are both from Manila.
Lu has been slapped charges of white slavery, child trafficking, and rape. He is now detained at the Caloocan City Jail. The Caloocan City Prosecutor’s Office did not recommend any bail for Lu.
The suspect, who was on board his Mercedes Benz (AJH-365) was arrested by members of the Caloocan Police Station 2 and the Women’s and Children’s Concerns Desk (WCCD) at 11:30 p.m. along 2nd Avenue in Caloocan after a one-week surveillance.
According to officer-on-case PO2 Marissa Amajan of the WCCD, the victims were hired by the suspects to be their househelp and that the girls started to work last Holy Week.
On April 16, at about 10:30 p.m., Lu and Payag invited the girls to eat outside. But instead of proceeding to a restaurant, the victims claimed the couple brought them to the Anito motel on EDSA, Caloocan.
According to reports, the girls were sold by Lu and Payag to two other Chinese nationals.
Amajan said the younger girl was brought to a room where one of the customers was waiting.
The 15-year-old girl was sent to another room where she was forced by Lu to drink a glass of beer. She claimed to have fallen asleep and when she woke up, she was already naked. The victim said she saw Lu with another Chinese national inside the room.
According to Amajan, the girls managed to escape from the motel. They went back to Lu’s house to get their things and immediately reported the incident to the police.
Medical examination showed that the girls had been raped. – Nikko Dizon