Authorities in Surigao del Sur were able to rescue 15 individuals recently, following an operation against sex traffickers as conducted in two separate areas in the city of Bislig, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) said on Wednesday.
The IACAT said the operations were conducted last Aug. 20 by Philippine National Police (PNP) operatives in coordination with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Regional Anti-Trafficking Task Force 13 and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Arrested in the operation were five unidentified suspects, all of whom are women.
The rescued victims included 13 minors.
“The case started from a tip from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center (Picacc), wherein they referred an online sexual exploitation of children (Osec) case involving an Australian national, who was arrested for child exploitation related offenses in Australia,” the IACAT said in a statement.
The five suspects face charges of violating Republic Act 9208 as amended by RA 10364, the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012; RA 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act in relation to RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012; and RA 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse Act in relation to the Anti-Child Labor Act.
"Law enforcement in the Philippines, both the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) and PNP, are sending a clear message with operations like this one: you will not buy and sell the sexual abuse of children in the Philippines,” said IACAT member and NBI’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) Chief Janet Francisco in a statement. “We will not allow it and we will be their guardians. We will find you and you will have to answer for your actions in a court of law."