ANGELES CITY—The National Bureau of Investigation has raided at least five bars in this city, raising questions on whether there is now a serious campaign against prostitution and human trafficking or if the agency is unwittingly being used in a fund-raising drive for the 2010 elections.
Susan Pineda, executive director of the women’s group IMA Foundation, said the NBI should tell the real score so that questions about the raids are cleared and stakeholders in the tourism sector can be able to help the bureau.
“I hope the NBI would tell us what those raids are really about. We’re told they’re going after establishments employing minors but some said there’s kotong money. We want to know the truth. We’re getting tired in the campaign to protect women, children and legitimate businesses,” Pineda said.
Reached by phone, NBI chief Nestor Mantaring said he could not immediately answer questions about the raids because he was attending a conference.
Two officials of the NBI Central Luzon office said the unit was not involved in the raids on Edelweiss, Valhala, Club 68 on April 29 and Club Icarus and Saikai on May 1.
Senior Supt. Pierre Buscit, Angeles City police director, and Chief Insp. Ronaldo Lorenzo, Station 4 chief, said the NBI did not coordinate the raids with the local police.
Ruel Lasala, NBI deputy director for intelligence services, confirmed that his unit’s criminal investigation section conducted the raids.
Romy Lim, head agent of the unit, said the raids on Edelweiss and Valhala have been done at the “request of the city government.”
“We filed charges for violations of the human trafficking law,” Lim said by phone. He cut short the interview, saying his unit was in the midst of an ongoing operation.
It was not known what unit mounted the raids on the three other bars.
Councilor Agapito del Rosario could not immediately confirm the request but said the raids had not been coordinated with the local government.
Neither was it coordinated with the village council, according to Balibago barangay captain Tony Mamac.
Reports reaching Mamac said members of the Jojo group, an alleged extortion syndicate operating on Fields Avenue, conducted follow-ups after the NBI left. Mayor Francis Nepomuceno sued Mamac and American hotel owner Jimmy Dale for libel when they mentioned in a tourism summit that the Jojo group is being linked to the mayor. Nepomuceno said he has not tolerated wrongdoings on Fields Avenue or involved in any of it.
The same group is allegedly behind the pap smear racket on some 5,000 commercial sex workers, filching them of P50 per exam, Pineda said.
Pineda said this lack of coordination and the continued operations of the bars, except for Valhala, fueled reports about “exchange of money.”
A foreigner working on Fields Avenue and Malabanias where the bars are located said the Jojo group demanded P100,000 to P500,000 for those bars to remain open. The bar owners declined to be interviewed.
“There is a cloud of confusion here on who is doing what. Our concern is that as these raids are done, can NBI or the city government for that matter really break down the sex trade and human trafficking syndicates?” Pineda said.
The rest and recreation industry in the city accounts for some 1,000 establishments now or double of what operated in the last years before the American troops pulled out from the nearby Clark Air Base in 1991.
Susan Pineda, executive director of the women’s group IMA Foundation, said the NBI should tell the real score so that questions about the raids are cleared and stakeholders in the tourism sector can be able to help the bureau.
“I hope the NBI would tell us what those raids are really about. We’re told they’re going after establishments employing minors but some said there’s kotong money. We want to know the truth. We’re getting tired in the campaign to protect women, children and legitimate businesses,” Pineda said.
Reached by phone, NBI chief Nestor Mantaring said he could not immediately answer questions about the raids because he was attending a conference.
Two officials of the NBI Central Luzon office said the unit was not involved in the raids on Edelweiss, Valhala, Club 68 on April 29 and Club Icarus and Saikai on May 1.
Senior Supt. Pierre Buscit, Angeles City police director, and Chief Insp. Ronaldo Lorenzo, Station 4 chief, said the NBI did not coordinate the raids with the local police.
Ruel Lasala, NBI deputy director for intelligence services, confirmed that his unit’s criminal investigation section conducted the raids.
Romy Lim, head agent of the unit, said the raids on Edelweiss and Valhala have been done at the “request of the city government.”
“We filed charges for violations of the human trafficking law,” Lim said by phone. He cut short the interview, saying his unit was in the midst of an ongoing operation.
It was not known what unit mounted the raids on the three other bars.
Councilor Agapito del Rosario could not immediately confirm the request but said the raids had not been coordinated with the local government.
Neither was it coordinated with the village council, according to Balibago barangay captain Tony Mamac.
Reports reaching Mamac said members of the Jojo group, an alleged extortion syndicate operating on Fields Avenue, conducted follow-ups after the NBI left. Mayor Francis Nepomuceno sued Mamac and American hotel owner Jimmy Dale for libel when they mentioned in a tourism summit that the Jojo group is being linked to the mayor. Nepomuceno said he has not tolerated wrongdoings on Fields Avenue or involved in any of it.
The same group is allegedly behind the pap smear racket on some 5,000 commercial sex workers, filching them of P50 per exam, Pineda said.
Pineda said this lack of coordination and the continued operations of the bars, except for Valhala, fueled reports about “exchange of money.”
A foreigner working on Fields Avenue and Malabanias where the bars are located said the Jojo group demanded P100,000 to P500,000 for those bars to remain open. The bar owners declined to be interviewed.
“There is a cloud of confusion here on who is doing what. Our concern is that as these raids are done, can NBI or the city government for that matter really break down the sex trade and human trafficking syndicates?” Pineda said.
The rest and recreation industry in the city accounts for some 1,000 establishments now or double of what operated in the last years before the American troops pulled out from the nearby Clark Air Base in 1991.
