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MANILA, Philippines—Twenty-three women, including a minor, believed to be victims of human trafficking have been rescued by the police from a five-story building in Valenzuela City.
Valenzuela police chief, Senior Superintendent Ranier Idio, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the women were promised jobs abroad by Andy and Thelma Que, owners of Philquest Agency.
The victims, who had been recruited from various provinces in Visayas and Mindanao, were temporarily staying in the building while waiting for their applications to be processed, when they were rescued by the police on Tuesday.
The victims, however, were not allowed out of the building as they had been unable to pay the fees demanded by the couple. One of the victims even alleged that Andy Que molested her several times.
The couple were later charged with qualified trafficking in persons and large scale illegal recruitment. They, however, denied all the charges against them.
“They were promised jobs abroad. But they claimed some of them had been staying in the building for more than a year and worked as housemaids for the couple who recruited them from the province without being paid,” Idio said.
He added that it took two hours before the team composed of operatives from the Central Investigation Detection Group and the Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and local police were allowed to go inside the building.
The operation stemmed from a complaint filed by Nora Salik, one of the victims recruited by the Ques and who was able to escape from the building.
According to Salik, she had changed her mind about working overseas and told the couple that she just wanted to go back home to Maguindanao province.
The Ques, however, allegedly refused to let her go unless she paid P10,000 for letting her stay in the “dormitory.”
