AGENTS of the Bulacan Police Provincial Office on Wednesday raided a KTV bar believed to be serving as a ‘front’ for prostitution and rescued seven minors, six of them females said to be being offered for commercial sex by the den owner, a report to Police Regional Office 3 director, Brigadier General Valeriano T. de Leon said yesterday.
Bulacan police director, Colonel Lawrence B. Cajipe said that three maintainers of the TRS KTV located along Cagayan Valley Road in Bgy. Sapang Putol, San Ildefonso,were also arrested during the raid conducted at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday.
“This is part of our ongoing operation against unscrupulous individuals who are taking advantage of the COVID-19 crisis to lure vulnerable citizens into prostitution and other illegal acts,” said the official.
Cajipe said undercover officers of the Bulacan PPO’s Provincial Intelligence Branch and the Women and Children Protection Division headed by Major Janski Andrew Jaafar, joined by officers from the San Ildefonso Municipal Police Station and the local social welfare department conducted the raid amid complaints regarding the presence of young prostitutes in the bar.
He said that the six young girls were found to be involved in the flesh trade while the 7th minor, a male, was found to be acting as the cashier of the raided establishment.
Cajipe identified the arrested suspects as Enrique Salonga, the alleged operator of the KTV bar-cum sex den and suspected pimps Bienvenido del Rosario and Clariza Flores.
He added that the suspects are facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9208 as amended by RA 10364 or the anti-trafficking in persons act.
The rescued minors were placed under the custody of the local Department of Social Welfare and Development office, Cajipe said.
