Authorities rescued 35 Chinese women inside a hotel allegedly being used as a prostitution den in Makati City late Monday night.
Police also arrested 21 foreign clients, some believed to be Chinese working in the Philippine offshore gaming operator sector.
Makati City police chief Rogelio Simon said they were tipped off that the hotel, which opened in 2018, was a front for prostitution.
Transactions reportedly were taking place over social media, where the rates could go up to P20,000.
“They don’t accept Filipino customers,” Simon said.
Meanwhile, Senator Joel Villanueva said the unabated influx of illegal foreign workers in the country was hampering the efforts of law enforcement agencies to rein in the crimes committed by foreigners.
The raid on an alleged prostitution den by the Makati City Police past midnight Tuesday, the latest action on the criminal activities perpetrated by foreigners, was a clear manifestation of how certain individuals were taking advantage of the cracks in the government’s system, said Villanueva who heads the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development.
Some 10 Filipino hotel employees, who were also apprehended during the raid, said they were not aware the establishment was involved in the sex trade.
“We only clean the rooms,” an employee told ABS-CBN News.
It was the fourth raid on a sex den involving Chinese in Metro Manila in two months. Those arrested face complaints for violating the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012.
Ninety-one Chinese women and four Filipinas were rescued from the Makati bar.
Police also rescued more than 50 Chinese women inside a three-story condominium building in Baclaran, Parañaque City, on Sept. 16.
On Sept. 4, some six Vietnamese women were rescued inside a condominium unit in Barangay San Antonio, Makati City. With Macon Ramos-Araneta
