24 sex workers nabbed in Sta. Cruz mall

MANILA, PHilippines - Twenty-four male sex workers, including 11 minors, were rounded up by the police at a mall in Sta. Cruz, Manila yesterday in response to complaints that the place is becoming a “hunting ground” of persons looking for quick sex.

With the cooperation of the mall’s security personnel, Sta. Cruz police officers led by Superintendent Romulo Sapitula arrested 24 sex workers, some as young as 15 years old, at the fourth floor of the mall.

“We rely on our police instinct to pinpoint those with no legitimate purpose inside the mall… All those invited for questioning admitted having transacted with mall habitués for sex services,” Sapitula told The STAR.

Police also learned the male prostitutes do not have pimps and look for clientson their ow, servicing them in seedy motels offering “short time occupancy,” according to investigators.

The male prostitutes said they transferred their base of operation to the mall after they were driven from Avenida in Sta. Cruz, where they used to pick up clients.

The minors said they were lured to the illegal trade due to easy money. They said all they have to do is roam at the mall and wait for gay men to approach them for sex.

Sapitula advised the mall security personnel to be vigilant on the activities of their visitors. The Sta. Cruz police station chief is considering posting the pictures of arrested male prostitutes at the entrance of the mall to discourage them from entering.

The minors will be turned over to the Department of Social Services and Development, while the adults will be charged with vagrancy. – Nestor Etolle