CAMP GEN. LIM, Laguna – Seventeen women-victims of human trafficking were rescued by police and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) officers in Barangay Paliparan, Dasmarinas City, last Monday, a police report released Wednesday said.

Chief Supt. Rolando Anonuevo, Police Regional Office 4-A director, said the victims were rescued after two others in their group escaped their recruiters just before they were about to board a plane for Jordan at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The two, whose identities have been withheld by police, left skipped their scheduled flight at 1:15 a.m. Monday and proceeded to DzRH radio station in Pasay City and then to the PRO4-A Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk.

They told investigators how their recruiters – a certain Adema Bandigan and Lerma Ubaran Halipa – recruited them in Davao as domestic helpers in Jordan but were first hauled off to a house in Dasmariñas City where 17 other women were locked up in a big room.

Anonuevo, quoting the complaint, said that before the women were locked up in the room, all their personal belongings and cellular phones were confiscated.

He said the women were also forbidden to talk to one another, prompting police to believe that their recruiters are allegedly part of a white slavery syndicate.

The revelation of the two prompted the Regional Investigation and Detection Management Division (RIDM) 4-A and DSWD to launch a rescue operation.

Police, accompanied by DSWD officers led by Rhodora R. Baja, swooped down on the house at Blk. 132 Lt 6, Phase 1 Mabuhay, Barangay Paliparan 3 around 10 p.m. Monday and found the 17 women.

However, the suspects who recruited them eluded arrest.