Iligan police nabs woman for human trafficking

By Divina Suson, 22 Nov 2019

ILIGAN CITY — Police operatives here arrested a 22-year-old woman Thursday night for allegedly soliciting customers for five prostituted women through online transactions.

Maj. Abogado Mautin, chief of Iligan City Police Station (ICPS) 4, said they arrested Mardy Amor Sumalinog in an entrapment operation inside a pension house in Barangay Ubaldo Laya.

Mautin said Sumalinog accepted the PHP2,000 as payment from police assets for each of the five women, whom she was pimping to prospective customers.

Mautin said Sumalinog is engaged in soliciting customers for the women through Facebook under a different name.

He said the suspect would post the photos of her “angels” to lure potential customers, who would directly message her if they want to avail of their services.

“We have been putting her under surveillance for three weeks now. The women, although they are not minors and they went with the suspect with their consent, are still considered victims. We are saving women who could be sexually exploited and could be exposed to HIV/AIDS,” Mautin said.

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that can be contracted through unprotected sex.

Authorities seized from the suspect the marked money worth PHP2,000.

In an interview with the media, Sumalinog admitted she has been a pimp for two years now, and was once an “angel” when was not yet married.

“I stopped (being a pimp) when I got married but I have to go back into it to help my husband augment our financial needs, especially now that we have a baby,” Sumalinog said.

She said she gets PHP500 commission from every PHP2,000 payment of the costumer.

At the detention cell, Sumalinog’s sister brought her nine-month-old baby girl whom she still breastfeeds.

Her husband is a driver of a delivery truck of an online company.

Police said she will be charged with the violation of Republic Act 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012. (PNA)