More Cops Deployed vs Sex Gang

Published in The Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE CHIEF of the Southern Police District yesterday deployed policemen in schools in Makati City following the abduction of a 15-year-old high school student on Tuesday.

P/Supt. Manuel Cabigon, SPD director, said the increased police presence in the vicinity of schools would deter members of a flesh trade syndicate from further pursuing their illegal activities.

“The deployment of policemen in Makati and the rest of the south was aimed at ensuring the safety of our students,” he said.

Cabigon said the abduction case had already been turned over to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force since it has the greater capacity to solve it.

Cabigon was referring to the abduction of Alona, A junior student at a Makati high school, by six unidentified men believed to be members of a flesh trade syndicate.

The men abducted at least 10 female teenagers in just one day. Alona told radio reporters yesterday that she was the fourth one to be abducted.

Police suspected that the female teenagers would eventually be forced to engage into prostitution.

Alona, however, managed to escape and immediately sought police assistance.

The Makati police theorized that the other female teenagers might have come from elsewhere, and not just in Makati schools.

With a report from Dave Veridiano