By DIANN IVY CALUCIN
Members of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) rescued five female victims of human trafficking, including a 16-year-old girl, and arrested the woman who traded them for sex in Barangay Payatas on Friday, Sept. 23.
Police identified the arrested suspect as Joahanna Ericka Managuite, 30, a resident of Lower Everlasting, Brgy. Payatas A, in Quezon City.
According to the police report, the QCPD Special Operations Unit (DSOU) and District Women and Children Concern Section (DWCCS) received reports from an informant about the suspect's prostitution activities through online booking.
A DSOU personnel who posed as a customer managed to contact the suspect through an online messaging application and booked six ladies for P2,500 each.
The suspect agreed to meet them in front of a hotel on Kalayaan Avenue in Brgy. Diliman in Quezon City at around 6:45 p.m. on Friday.
Police said the suspect went to the location along with the five female victims.
The suspect was arrested after she received the money from the police officer.
Managuite will be charged for violations of Republic Act 9208 (Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act) as amended by R.A. 11862 (Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022) in relation to R.A. 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012), and R.A. 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse Exploitation and Discrimination Act), police said.
The victims were brought to the Quezon City-Social Services Development Department (QC-SSDD) for proper disposition.