MANILA, Philippines – Intelligence operatives of the Manila Police District swooped down on a suspected abortion clinic in Sta. Cruz, Manila Tuesday afternoon resulting to the arrest of three women caught while in the act of performing abortion on a police asset.
Intelligence chief Superintendent Ernesto Fojas Jr. identified the suspects as Dionila Santos, 59; Rachelle Montibon, 31; and Lorna Arabis, 30.
Police seized several pieces of suspected abortion contraption in a room at the second floor of a house at 2217-D Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz which serves as the abortion clinic. The owner of the house, Ma. Dalia Napa, 35, was also arrested for consenting to use her residence for the illegal activity.
Fojas tasked Chief Inspector Fernando Opelanio, chief of the District Police Intelligence and Operations Unit, to conduct an entrapment operation following intelligence reports that illegal abortion procedures were being done at the said address.
Opelanio used a pregnant police asset to transact a deal of abortion with the suspects for P3,000. The suspects, Santos and Arabis, met the police asset at a supermarket in Sta. Cruz where they boarded a pedicab which brought them to the abortion clinic.
The police asset gave a pre-arranged signal to the cops as soon as she was made to lie down on an operating table by the suspects. Authorities caught in the act Santos inserting a forcep on the private part of the police asset while the two other suspects were holding her hands.
Santos admitted searching for clients who are willing to undergo illegal abortion among buyers of herbal concoctions in Quiapo. However, she named a certain “Gemma” as the real abortionist, with her acting only as an assistant. She said Gemma only comes in after she had done the initial procedure such as massaging the stomach of the patient. – Nestor Etolle