TO the youngsters, the promise of better jobs in Manila turned out to be bitter ones as they ended up as preys of alleged illegal racket. The 15 youngsters who were rescued by authorities of 701 st Cebu Maritime police in Cebu from alleged human trafficking racket were hired purportedly for the lucrative but unlawful flesh and cybersex trade now proliferating in the Visayas. The provincial social welfare and development office (PSWDO) was informed of this as it closely coordinated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office for the next steps to be instituted for the youngsters, said acting provincial social welfare officer Ms. Carmelita Tecson. Tecson said per information she received that the better jobs for the kids are too good to be true but later on they learned that they are to be posed infront of the camera what appears to be a semblance of cybersex scheme. Four of the 15, whose ages range from 13 to 21, are adults who are bound for Manila after they were hired by alleged illegal recruiter who hails from island barangay of Jagoliao, Getafe town. The kids hail from same barangay and some of them from nearby island-barangay of Nasingin, Getafe.

Three of the adults were already released and headed home following their documentation last week, said Tecson. But Identities of the minors and the recruiter were not released to the media in Cebu following the kids rescue pending further investigation. They are now housed at the Cebu women’s center. Tecson said that the kids will likely undergo some sort of rehabilitation for several months in Cebu prior to their release to their parents. But this depends on the rehabilitation and evaluation on the youngsters. Ina separate phone interview, municipal social welfare officer Irene Betinol of Getafe said that she cannot yet give details for she has yet to personally meet and interview the kids in Cebu. She said that there had been similar victims of the same barangay from this kind of racket years back. She’ll find out if the same parents who are said consented their kids to be lured to sweet-talkin’ recruiter in exchange of sums of money and a promise of better job as soon as she can contact her counterpart in Cebu. Report said that the parents whose children are among the 15 victims were paid few thousands of pesos. But this has not been confirmed yet. It will be recalled that similar “modus operandi” occurred in this town. At three of the nine girls who were believed being trafficked for work in Manila turned out to be minors or under 18 years old, Dionisio T. Anzano, an alleged recruiter and resident of Getafe town, admitted in an erlier interview.