Arrest in Bogo city a ‘positive response’, says NGO

Plan International and Bogo police will station a help desk here in Polambato wharf to provide quick assistance to victims as part of a campaign against human trafficiking.
(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

The arrest  last week of a 73-year-old Canadian retiree, along with a  mother and grandmother in Bogo City in a case of alleged child sex abuse is a “positive response” in the fight against human trafficking, said a child rights advocate.

Kathy Dela Calzada, project manager for Plan International, which has ongoing projects in Bogo City, said the community and the city government have been responsive in the campaign.

“We will conduct more information drives for the local government and barangay officials,” she told Cebu Daily News.

“When we reach the barangay level  then we can immediately tap the community, especially the parents,” she said.

Asked what help they can give, she said they can extend “fare transportation and medical-legal assistance for the children”  and would coordinate with the municipal social welfare office.

Four minor girls, two from Bogo and two sisters from Consolacion town, were rescued by police, who arrested Levis Talbot in his rented room in the Gabrielle’s Court motel-pension house where the girls had spent the night

A help desk to assist possible trafficked victims was launched at the Polambato Wharf  of Bogo just a week earlier.

The busy port is a departure and arrival point for passengers going in and out of Bogo City, Leyte and Masbate.

READ: Bogo forms anti-trafficking group after child sex cases

So far, one family sought help after three siblings were illegally recruited in Bogo City last year, said Dela Calzada.

“They were forced  to work somewhere in Central Visayas. The suspect is still at large after charges was filed against him,” she told Cebu Daily News.

The four children rescued last April 7 are back “in their community” said   Dela Calzada, who declined to give more details.

Bogo police earlier said there was no facility  or accredited shelter for children and had to turn the girls over to relatives.

Inquest proceedings for the three suspects will be held tomorrow.

Child abuse and human trafficking charges were filed by police in the Office of the City Prosecutor against  Talbot, and the 27-year-old mother and grandmother of two of the rescued girls. All three suspects are detained in the Bogo police jail.

A 19-year-old sister of the rescued girls from  Bogo said  the family is consulting a lawyer.

“Akong lola sige ug hilak tungod sa issue. Ang mga bata wala man ma trauma kay wala man sad nahitabo gud. Sige ra gani sila ug dula,” said the teenager, who’s been visiting her detained grandmother.

(My grandmother is often crying because of the controversy.  The children are not suffering any trauma because nothing bad happened.  They are busy playing.)

In an interview at the jail last Friday, the 63-year-old grandmother said Talbot has been a close family friend since 2008 and would stay in their house when he visits Bogo.

READ: American retiree in trafficking, child abuse charges

She denied any sexual abuse took place with her young granddaughters, and said Talbot was helping finance the repair of their house which was destroyed during super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

The grandmother blamed her daughter-in-law for calling the police, saying  the young woman was just irked that Talbot wouldn’t give her more than P20 when she asked for money because the foreigner knew she would use it to buy drugs.

The lola  said she had to take over as breadwinner of the family since her son was in jail on drug charges and her daughter-in-law also had a drug habit.

The arrest on April 7 took place a day after Bogo City Mayor Celestino Martinez Jr. formed a committee against human trafficking following a seminar conducted by Plan International.

The NGO, which focuses on the rights and welfare of children, is part of the committee with policemen, barangay captains and members of the Baranga Peakeeping Action Team.

Plan International recently donated computers, cameras, and other office supplies to  help Bogo City to help document cases of human trafficking. The NGO signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Bogo city to set up community-based mechanisms for anti-trafficking and disaster response.