Complaint vs. tutorial center dismissed
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—The human trafficking charges filed by the police against the owners and employees of an online English language tutorial center in Lingayen were finally dropped by the Department of Justice (DOJ) by police authorities.
Evidence of human trafficking against Kamehachi Corporation, which ran the center in a three-storey building it owns on Avenida Street, was “insufficient,” a special body tasked to look into the matter said.
Exonerated by DOJ were Erlinda Tandoc, Leonora Ceralde, Josephine Gille, Rafael Tandoc, Takayuki Umeda, Jyunko Wang, and Masihiro Kishigami.
The complaint was filed by the Philippine National Police (PNP)- Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), National Capital Region Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (NCR-CIDU) in March CIDG, armed with a search warrant, conducted a raid on the center’s premises, seized the center’s computers and several equipment and arrested the owners.
The raid was conducted on suspicion that the center was fronting for prostitution and cyber sex operation in violation of RA 10364, otherwise known as the Anti- Trafficking in Persons Act.
But the DOJ noted CIDG’s report that “nobody was (naked) [during the raid.]”
“While it is true that during the operation, not one of the employees was wearing their standard uniform, still they were not in their birthday suit and were just wearing ordinary clothes,” the report said.
The DOJ report was submitted by assistant state prosecutors Gilmarie Fe Pacamarra and Mark Roland Estepa and Edna Valenzuela, senior assistant state prosecutor and vice chairperson of the task for on anti-trafficking in persons, who signed the document.
While the gun that was seized during the raid was confiscated in favor of the government, the tutorial center’s owners remained grateful for the decision.
“We, the owners and tutors, are very happy, because finally, we got the justice we deserve. Soon, we will get back all our computers and other things they seized from us, which we worked hard for… God is good all the time,” Erlinda Tandoc, president of the Kamehachi Corporation, said.
Resumption of their center’s operations will begin first week of July once they retrieve all their equipment seized by the CIDG, she said.
The center serves about 800 Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Russian young and adult students.—Johanne R. Macob
“While it is true that during the operation, not one of the employees was wearing their standard uniform, still they were not in their birthday suit and were just wearing ordinary clothes,” the report said.
The DOJ report was submitted by assistant state prosecutors Gilmarie Fe Pacamarra and Mark Roland Estepa and Edna Valenzuela, senior assistant state prosecutor and vice chairperson of the task for on anti-trafficking in persons, who signed the document.
While the gun that was seized during the raid was confiscated in favor of the government, the tutorial center’s owners remained grateful for the decision.
“We, the owners and tutors, are very happy, because finally, we got the justice we deserve. Soon, we will get back all our computers and other things they seized from us, which we worked hard for… God is good all the time,” Erlinda Tandoc, president of the Kamehachi Corporation, said.
Resumption of their center’s operations will begin first week of July once they retrieve all their equipment seized by the CIDG, she said.
The center serves about 800 Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Russian young and adult students.—Johanne R. Macob
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