13 cybersex victims rescued in Tacloban, Biliran

Sunday, February 25, 2018 By RONALD O. REYES, Feb 25, 2018

THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Anti-Human Trafficking Division rescued 13 cybersex victims, including minors, in separate operations in Tacloban City and Culaba town, Biliran province, last Friday, February 23. The victims were rescued when NBI agents conducted an entrapment operation against three suspects identified only as “Jessa,” her male live-in partner, and her cousin.

The suspects were caught in the act of offering to a foreigner Jessa’s two younger siblings (ages 15 and 17) to do sex acts via live streaming in exchange for money. The agents recovered a laptop computer and a cell phone from Jessa’s house in Tacloban City. On the same day, NBI operatives armed with a search warrant swooped at a house in the sleepy town of Culaba, Biliran, about 150 kilometers away from Tacloban City, where Monica was allegedly operating a cybersex den.

Seven children, ages 4 to 17, and two adults, ages 20 and 24, were rescued inside the house and from the neighborhood. Authorities retrieved desktop computer with accessories, an iPad tablet and a smartphone inside the house. The case of British national Alain Charlwood-Collings, a known convicted sex offender in the United Kingdom who once lived in the Philippines, has led the National Bureau of Investigation Anti-Human Trafficking Division to rescue the 13 victims.

If convicted, the suspects will face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment under Republic Act (RA) 10364 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. They will also face criminal charges under RA 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act in relation to RA 10175 the Cybercrime Prevention Act and other related violations.