Friday, 08 August 2014 15:39
The Franciscan sisters of the Zamboanga Women Religious Association (ZAWRA) have now joined the fight against human trafficking in this city.
Sister Jocelyn Alado, ZAWRA vice chair, disclosed that the social action center has been existing for quite someime now assisting women including children who are being exploited by unscrupulous individuals.
Alado said their group has even partnered with the local Visayan Forum and the United Nations on its programs and advocacies in connection to gender violence and child protection.
She said Zamboanga City is being used as jump-off point to Tawi-Tawi and Malaysia considering its proximity to these areas.
“We are really against women trafficking and exploitation and the protection of children,” Alado emphasized.
Meanwhile, Station 11 Police Chief Sr. Supt. Alan Nazarro said investigators under his office has already filed the human trafficking case against three women and an ex-marine soldier for illegally recruiting 13 young women with the intention of sending the victims to Malaysia via Tawi-Tawi.
Yesterday afternoon, police investigators brought the suspects to the prosecutor’s office for inquest proceeding.
It will be recalled, the 13 potential victims of human trafficking were rescued in an anti-human trafficking operations conducted by combined elements of the police and Department of Justice personnel last Monday.
The police identified the suspects as Cebu City residents Olivia Abo Abo and Eulalia Francis Richards, and Ex Marine Sergeant Luis Solano and his wife Marilyn of Zamboanga City.
Abo Abo and Richards were reported to have recruited the victims through the Merco Recruitment Agency while the Solano couple was said to have functioned as facilitators in Zamboanga City.
Rescue operations started last Sunday afternoon after police got wind of the arrival of around 20 female passengers at the Zamboanga international Airport from various parts of the country.
The twenty were the subject of police monitoring for having been recruited by a suspected syndicate of human traffickers operating in the country.
Investigators said surveillance of the Zamboanga seaport and the city’s numerous finger wharves to intercept the possible departure of the victims for other areas have been launched.
Members of the surveillance team include elements from the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime, the Philippine Anti Organized Crime Task Force, OCPNP Special Projects Khilafa Islamiya, Special Action Forces 53rd Company,Zamboanga City Police Office Anti Vice, 3rd Regional Public Safety Battalion, and Department of Justice personnel.
Five of the victims were questioned at the Zamboanga seaport’s Passenger Assistance Center after they registered as passengers bound for TAwi Tawi province.
The victims were rounded up after failing to present appropriate documents necessary for employment abroad.
Statements by the five female victims pointed to a safe house in barangay Lumbangan where another eight victims were rounded up and the four suspects arrested.
Police also confiscated documents such as money transfers and tickets.
The potential victims, who are all in their 20’s, were reportedly recruited for possible employment as restaurant workers in Lebanon.
The victims were expected to depart for Malaysia via the backdoor, a common route normally used by human traffickers to transport their victims to other destinations.
For this reason, Nazarro has ordered personnel from his office to monitor and check all exit points such as the finger wharves including the local port of Zamboanga City for other would be victims.(Nonong Santiago)