A Filipino-American freelance journalist based in Angeles City in Pampanga has asked the Supreme Court to issue her a Writ of Amparo for protection from police authorities whose alleged illegal activities she had exposed in her news articles.

Maribel Langley-Van Keulen told the SC she is a member of the National Press Club (NPC) doing investigative journalism, particularly on alleged human trafficking and prostitution involving policemen in connivance with several bar owners in Angeles City.

She recounted that her first news article in 2003 involved the trafficking and prostitution of Filipino women, who were dubbed as “virgin girls” or “cherry girls,” by a Korean national.

She said she reported the incident to the Angeles City police authorities which failed to act on the matter, and instead, demanded money from the Korean national.

According to her, she was threatened by the police when she wrote the article on the extortion.

She also told the SC that she wrote several articles that appeared in a tabloid of national circulation on cases of unreported rape, murder, and extortion activities of a syndicate that has connections with the Angeles City police.

When she did not accede to give money to certain police officers, she said she was charged before the municipal trial court in Angeles City with an offense she did not commit.

At the same time, she said she was attacked by a bar owner in 2008 because of an article posted in a website exposing extortion activities by the police in Angeles City.