POLICE rescued at least 35 Chinese women and arrested 21 Chinese men in a hotel allegedly serving as a prostitution den in Makati City on Monday night while two other Chinese men were nabbed inside the Makati City Police Station yesterday for offering a bribe of P1.7 million in exchange for the freedom of their arrested friends.
Operatives of the Station Investigation and Detective Management Section (SIDMS) of Makati City led by Maj. Gideon Ines Jr. swooped down on the Maxx Hotel on Makati Ave., Barangay Poblacion, at about 11 p.m.
The operation was conducted based on a tip that the establishment was offering illegal sexual activities involving Asian looking females. Only Chinese males are allowed to enter the hotel.
Makati police chief Col. Rogelio Simon said the Chinese women are being peddled for P20,000 each while an additional P3,000 is charged for the use of rooms.
“Ito ay isang legitimate hotel pero front ito ng prostitution den (This is a legitimate hotel but it is a front for prostitution),” Simon said, adding among the evidence seized during the raid were sex gadgets, sexy costumes, condoms, and other sex paraphernalia.
Aside from the 21 Chinese men that included customers and personnel who run the hotel, around 10 Filipino employees of the hotel were also in police custody.
They will be charged for violation of the Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008.
Two Chinese who tried to bribe police officers P1.7 million in exchange for the release of their friends arrested at the hotel were nabbed yesterday afternoon.
Police identified the two as Zhang Xiuqiang, 32, and Fan Jianping, 23.
Makati City’s Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) served a closure order on Maxx Hotel after the entrapment operation upon the orders of Mayor Abby Binay.
Around 127 establishments have been closed down by the BPLO since January this year, among them establishments were operating without valid business permits and for non-compliance with the National Building Code, Sanitation Code, and other relevant laws and ordinances. — Rod Lagusad