NBI rescues 7 teenagers turned sex slaves in Butuan

Government agents rescued seven teenagers forced into the sex trade and arrested six suspected pimps in a raid on a rented house in Butuan City last Wednesday. Online news site MindaNews (www.mindanews.com) reported Sunday that the National Bureau of National Investigation Caraga Region conducted the raid in the city’s Lower Doongan village. NBI special investigator Joel Vernon said the rescued girls were aged 13 to 19 and came from Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del; Norte, Surigao del Sur and Surigao City. Vernon said the raid stemmed from a complaint filed by a mother of one of the victims. The NBI withheld the identity of the complainant. Agents armed with a search warrant issued by Butuan City Branch 33 Judge Edgar Manilag raided a rented house in Purok 10, Tambala in Barangay Lower Doongan at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Arrested were Cherry Corcullo, 33; her live-in partner Roque Makilang, 2l, of General Santos City; Bernarderick Barbado, 24, of Veruela in Agusan del Sur; Rowena Arcala, 24, of Bitan-agan, Butuan City; Charlesbeth Que, 20, of Butuan City; and Olibert Orcullo, 26, of San Agustin in Surigao del Sur. The complainant said she last saw her daughter last week in front of D’Arthur’s Restaurant along Montilla Boulevard in Butuan City. She claimed Corcullo and Makilang recruited her daughter and reportedly promised her a comfortable place to live in, good food, nice clothes, and a cellular phone. One of the rescued victims, a 13-year-old, said she started working under Corcullo and Makilang last month. She stayed in a house at Lower Doongan with other girls who were mostly minors and engaged in “sex for sale" without receiving any payment, she said. She said she and other “sex workers" were closely guarded by Makilang’s men and could not get out of the house. Vernon said the suspects will be charged with child trafficking for commercial prostitution or violation of Republic Act 9208 in relation to Republic Act 7610, a non-bailable offense. - GMANews.TV