ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/09 August) – Police rescued anew 18 Malaysian-bound illegal recruitment victims and arrested the suspected
illegal recruiters during an operation here conducted Monday morning.
The rescue and arrest came barely a week after the Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD), backed by the Sea Base Anti-Human Trafficking
Task Force (SBATTF), conducted a similar operation.
Senior Insp. Gemma Luna, head of the WCPD of the local police office, said the new group of illegal recruitment victims were rescued 9 a.m.
Monday at Sitio Cambodia in Barangay Tetuan.
Luna said the victims, composed of 12 men and six women, are all residents of Barangay Bitibut, Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental. They arrived in the city by bus over the weekend, she said.
The oldest among them is 46 years old and the youngest, 18.
Luna said the presence of the victims were discovered by an informant of Police Station 6 commander Supt. Albert Larubis, who in turn
reported to her office.
She immediately coordinated with Tetuan Barangay Captain Felipe Natividad and swooped down the residence of Gloria Pasaylo, 47, the alleged illegal recruiter, and rescued the victims as well as arrested Pasaylo.
She said Pasaylo’s husband, Rodolfo, later voluntarily appeared at the WCPD office upon learning that his wife was arrested earlier in the day.
The victims revealed that they will be working in an oil palm plantation in Malaysia, she said.
The rescued victims were turned over to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office while the couple were temporarily detained at the local police headquarters.
The operation last Monday has brought the total number of rescued victims in the city to 35 since last week.
On Aug. 1, the WCPD and SBATTF operatives rescued 17 victims of illegal recruitment. They arrived earlier in the day aboard a commercial plane.
The Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 16 has ordered the detention of the two people tagged as the illegal recruiter after the Office of the City Prosecutor filed criminal charges against them. (MindaNews)