Sex for P150 in Talisay?: 5 ‘pimps’ nabbed, 8 women rescued

CEBU, Philippines — Five alleged pimps were arrested while eight women were rescued in an anti-trafficking entrapment operation conducted by the police Sunday dawn in Sitio Sangi, Barangay Tabunok in Talisay City.

The arrested suspects were identified as Jessica Yudico Sodareo, 49; Diome Abatayo Mission, 50; Danilo Bangkaya, 60, all from Talisay City; Raul Aprovechado Barcosa, 46, from Barangay Pardo, Cebu City; and Reno Diacamos, 34, from Barangay Lipata, Minglanilla.

“Sila’y mga pimps, mga bugaw (they were the pimps),” Police Major Gerard Ace Pelare, chief of Talisay City Police Station, said of the persons nabbed.

Pelare said that the rescued women, on the other hand, were aged between 20 and 37 years old. They are now under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

According to investigation, the pimps stationed themselves at a certain videoke bar in the area and allegedly offered sexual services to “clients” in exchange for P150 to P200 in cash.

“There’s a videoke bar in the place that serves as their meeting place. When the transaction is sealed, they would check in at the motel,” said Pelare.

The usual target costumers of the pimps were said to be construction workers and laborers.

Although the suspects had been placed under surveillance for two weeks, Pelare said they found out that the illegal activity has been going on for a long time already.

“As far as I know, this has been going on for a while now. But we feel that we have to enforce the law, especially since we heard that HIV cases in Talisay are rising,” he said, expressing hope that such cases would decline now that police are strictly enforcing the laws.

Pelare said that it wasn’t the first a rescue operation in relation to human trafficking was conducted in the city, but it was the first one under the “Oplan Limpyo Talisay,” an anti-criminality drive spearheaded by the police.

“To prevent this (trafficking), it must need a whole government approach. We have to find the root cause of the problem,” said Pelare after investigation revealed that “poverty” pushed most of the suspects to engage in the illegal activity. (FREEMAN)