Woman charged for pushing teens as sex workers

The Manila City Prosecutor’s Office has filed criminal charges before the Manila Regional Trial Court yesterday against a 34-year-old woman for inducing female minors to solicit sex.

Lenylyn de Guzman, alias Mama Leny, of 274 San Sebastian St. Tondo, Manila, was charged with violation of Section 4 (a) in relation to Section 6 (a) and Section 10 (c) of RA 9208, otherwise known as the Anti-Trafficking in Person Act of 2003. Assistant City Prosecutor Minerva de Guzman filed the information in court.

The prosecutor recommended no bail for the accused. The accused is currently in jail.

The charges stemmed from a complaint filed by four female teenagers who claimed they had been part of “Leny’s Angels”, a term adopted by the accused to suggest to prospective customers that the girls she sells for sex are of minor age. The girls ages range between 15 and 17.
The girls said they were paid by the accused from P1,000 to P1,500 for every customer they have sex with.

Investigation showed that the accused and her illegal business operations had been the subject of surveillance by the Western Metro Manila Criminal Investigation and Detection Team of the Manila Police District following reports regarding the rampant prostitution in Tondo, Manila.

In the evening of Nov. 12, members of the WMMCIDT and a representative of the Department of Social Welfare and Development conducted an entrapment operation against the accused’s prostitution business by sending out a confidential informant to pose as a customer seeking the company of a minor.

The informant had been able to negotiate with the accused, who offered one of her girls for P1,500.

It was alleged that as her usual practice, the accused accompanied the “customer” and her girl to the Asukuma Hotel on N. Zamora St., corner Moriones St., Tondo, Manila where she demanded from the informant a partial payment of P500 before leaving the building.

When the entrapment team arrived at the hotel, they immediately barged in while the minor was allegedly in the act of giving sexual favors to the informant.

Lawmen also arrested the accused near the hotel and recovered from her possession the marked P500 bill used by the informant as advance payment for sex. –Sandy Araneta, The Philippine Star