A female bar owner and two workers were arrested in Atimonan, Quezon and the establishment was shut down by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for alleged sexual trafficking of women, including minors.
Arrested last June 24 were Irene Ponce, owner of the Sweet Spicy bar, and bar manager Learnel Pamisaran and cashier Melissa Bizon, the NBI said in a statement.
NBI Officer-in-Charge Director Eric B. Distor said that rescued during the operation conducted by the NBI’s Lucena District Office (NBI-LUCDO) were six female guest relations officers (GROs), three of them minors aged 14 to 17 years old.
Distor said the rescued GROs were turned over to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office of Atimonan, while the bar owner and her workers were charged with violations of the Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012.
The NBI said it acted on “an intelligence information regarding the illegal recruitment of minors from Lucena City by a certain Irene R. Ponce to work as Guest Relations Officer (GRO) at Sweet Spicy Bar located at Barangay Tagbakin in Atimonan, Quezon.”
“Surveillance operation conducted by NBI-LUCDO in the target establishment confirmed that several minors are working as GROs,” it said.
“It was also established that sexual services with their clients are also provided in exchange for a fee of P2,000 which is to be paid directly to Subject Ponce or to the Floor Manager, Subject Pamisaran or to cashier, Subject Bizon,” it added.