Shelter for Jap kids

City readies halfway home for trafficking victims

THE Davao City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) has been sought to help house the rescued Japanese nationals, many of them children.

"They called us that they will be referring the children including those 20 years old and above, to us, but we are still waiting if they will pursue to refer for temporary shelter because they requested for five days," CSSDO chief Marilou Bermudo said.

They have identified the Paginhawaan Drop-in Center as the most viable place to house them while awaiting the arrival of their parents.

Paginhawaan is at the back of the Quick Response Team for Children’s Concerns Center near the San Pedro Police Station fronting Quezon Park.

Last May 2, nine Japanese nationals including seven minors who are victims of child trafficking were rescued by member

agencies of the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking (Iacat 11) at Purok 5, Camotes, Barangay Toril, Babak District Island Garden City of Samal.

The three female Japanese minors are now under the custody of DSWD Home for Girls and Women located in Maa, Davao City while the six male Japanese nationals are under the custody of the Island Garden City of Samal Social Welfare and Development Office.

Their presence in Samal was discovered when a Filipina, identified as Lorena Mapagdalita, a companion of two Japanese men suspected to be responsible for bringing the children there, filed a missing persons report with the police as four Japanese children were lost.

The four are now at the Japanese Embassy, police said.

Acting on their suspicion, personnel of the Island Garden City of Samal (Igacos) Police Station and Davao del Norte Provincial Police Office (DNPPO) led by officer-in-charge Police Superintendent Venus B. Ortuyo along with the personnel of CSWD found nine others in the company of Hajime Kawauchi and Yuya Kawauchi.

The children claimed having been forced to work and being maltreated there.

Apparently, the parents of the children were made to believe that the children will be studying Karate and English, and thus were allowed to fly to Samal.

The Japanese nationals were here since 2017 and their passports showed they have been in the country for 12 to 15 months. They were 13 initially and the four who were missing are in the Japanese Embassy.