■ POLICE NAB AN AMERICAN WHO BROUGHT TWO GIRLS TO A BANTAYAN RESORT

Jason Anderson Stone, a retired officer of the US Navy from Oregon, was arrested last Wednesday night after he checked in at the Marlin’s Beach Resort in Barangay Talisay, Sta. Fe, Bantayan Island, Cebu with two girls. SPO4 Sheila Ilustrisimo, chief of the Women and Children’s Protection Desk, said they took Stone into custody because he has “no relations by consanguinity or affinity” with the minors. Stone will be charged with violating Republic Act (RA) 7610, or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, and RA 9208, or the Anti-trafficking in Persons Act as amended by RA 10364.

Police arrested a 40-year-old American national for bringing two girls to a beach resort in Bantayan Island, northern Cebu last Wednesday night.

The team from the Women and Children's Protection Desk (WCPD) led by its chief SPO4 Sheila Ilustrisimo took into custody Jason Anderson Stone, a retired officer of the US Navy.

Stone, a native of Oregon, was reported to the police by the staff of Marlin's Beach Resort in Barangay Talisay, Sta. Fe after he checked in with a 16-year-old high school graduate and her 14-yearold sister, who is in elementary.

Ilustrisimo said Stone has "no relation by consanguinity or affinity" with the minors.

The girls were brought to the social welfare office for counseling.

Stone will be charged with violating Republic Act (RA) 7610, or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, and RA 9208, or the Anti-trafficking in Persons Act as amended by RA 10364.

Section 10 (b) of RA 7610 prohibits any person to be in the company of “a minor, 12 years or under or who is 10 years or more his junior in any public or private place, hotel, motel, beer joint, discotheque, cabaret, pension house, sauna or massage parlor, beach and/or other tourist resort or similar places.”

Under RA 9208, a person is prohibited “to recruit, transport, transfer; harbor, provide, or receive a person by any means, including those done under the pretext of domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage.”