Rescued victims want decent jobs, says exposing selves ‘safer’

For exposing their bodies online, seven young Filipinos were paid P15 to P20 by a Dutch national for every client served, the Criminal Investigation and Detective Team (CIDT) in Cebu said yesterday.

Four males and three females were rescued by authorities from a cybersex den that operated in two apartments in Ultra Street in barangay Pandayan and Bamboo Hills in Poblacion Occidental in Consolacion town, south Cebu, last Wednesday noon.

Upon their rescue, Senior Insp. Ricky Neron, CIDT-Cebu chief, said he asked social workers to help the victims find decent jobs.

He said he was told by the victims, who were from San Francisco town, Camotes Island, that they agreed to do what they did since it would spare them from having to engage in sex, which may result in contracting venereal diseases.

Neron said the Dutch national, which remains unidentified, administers the porn website and earns one U.S. dollar for every online client.

“Malaking kinikita to eh … ang foreigner lang kumikita dito (There’s a huge profit on this … it’s the foreigner who’s really earning well),” he said.

The arrest of two Filipino managers of a cybersex den that was broken up by Cebu police in two apartments in Consolacion town last Wednesday sends a strong message to traffickers that their days are numbered, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said yesterday.

“The glass is either half empty or half full. You could say despite our campaign against criminality we still see cases like this, seeing the glass half empty but we could also say precisely we are very serious about this campaign that these arrests are now happening,” she said.

The governor issued the warning even as Cebu police are monitoring the 10 apartments reportedly used by the cybersex den in Metro Cebu that is managed by a Dutch national.

“The (existence of these cybersex dens) will be the continual challenge we’ll face, but the important thing is we are facing the challenges head-on and we are not stopping until they stop,” Garcia said.

Neron said his personnel is verifying a claim about the apartments by one of the victims who was rescued at one of two apartments used by the den in Consolacion town.

Nilo (not his real name) said the apartments were located in Liloan town, Mandaue City and even in barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

Nilo and six others were been turned over to the local Social Welfare Development Office in San Francisco, Camotes Island.

The CIDG-7’s twin raids were authorized by a search warrant issued by Judge Samuel Malazarte. The cybersex den was supposedly operated by a Dutch national.

Two Filipino managers, a man and woman who weren’t present during the raid, are now being hunted down by the police.

They and the Dutch national stand accused of violating Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Human Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

Two caretakers who were arrested in the raid are now detained at the CIDG-7 detention cell.

The victims, who are natives of San Francisco town, Camotes Island, asked social workers to help them land a decent job.

Neron said the victims were paid a pittance by the Dutch national who operates a porn website.

The victims are told to disrobe and pose nude in front of foreigners whom they communicated with via online video chat.

He said he is also verifying reports that one of the managers had a pending case.

Though the raid was done last Wednesday, the CIDG-7 revealed details of the operation last Friday.

Recovered from the first apartment in Pandayan were one central processing unit (CPU), one computer monitor, one keyboard, a web camera, computer accessories, one audio visual recorder (AVR), cables, one lamp and one telephone.

The second apartment in Bamboo Hills yielded one computer monitor, one keyboard, one web camera, one speaker, cables, one lamp and telephone, one laptop, one CPU, one Flatron monitor and assorted sex toys.

With Carmel Loise Matus