Set Up By Cops

I want to tell my story here because I am so angry. I will not tell my real name and you can believe me or not, up to you. I was in Harrison Plaza in Manila in January of 2012. I was approached by two very sweet Filipinas who asked me f I wanted to have a date with them. I chose the one with the short, bobbed hair who said her name was Crystal. Her frind Jingy asked to come too but I didn’t want her as she was dumpy and not very pretty. We took a taxi to Sogo in Malate and took a room there and we got undressed. Crystal went for a shower and I was lying ont he bed and there was a knockont he door and someone said room service. I hadn’t ordered anything yet so I thought it was the bellhop wanting to make a tip. I opened the door and three Filipino men barged in. They were tough looking types in loose barong shirts and I could see they had guns under the shirts. One flashed a badge that looked pretty real and told me I was under arrest for having sex with a minor. Crystal came out of the bathroom and she was still fully dressed and the cops told her in Tagalog to leave the room. They closed the door and I was alone with these three cops and I was pretty scared. They told me she was only 16 and I was under arrest because it is illegal to go to a hotel room with a girl of 16, even though the age of consent is 16, if you are more than ten years older than her. I am 47 so I was screwed, so to speak.

I said we had not had sex, she was still dressed and they could tell from the front desk we had only got there a few minutes ago. Not only that I had not handed the girl any money and so they could not charge either of us with prostitution. I said either arrest me and call General Bartolome who was a personal friend, or I am walking out of there right now. The first cop told me I was under arrest and repeated what he said before, then said if I paid the fine now I could go. I asked how much was the fine and he said US$1,000. I laughed and told him I didn’t have P1,000 on me but I did have General Bartolome’s number on my cell phone. I reached for my phone and showed them the number next to the name ‘Gen Bartolome Dir Gen PNP’. I saw them hesitate so I told them to get out right now and I would forget the whole thing. I thought of telling them to send my girl back in but why push it?

They apologised and left. I sat in the room for maybe ten or twenty minutes shaking like a leaf, then I left and never went back there or Harrison Plaza. My advice, use Wikipedia to find the name of the current Director General of the Philippines National Police and put his name in your cell phone. The number next to it was just the switchboard at Camp Crame but those cops probably don’t call their boss too often to know otherwise!

When I walked outside as I got into a cab Crystal came up to me and said she was sorry, the cops made her do it. I said I’d forgive her if she got in the cab and she did. She told me the other girl was supposed to be in the room as well to make sure there was a witness and to delay any action till the cops showed. Only the first cop was a real cop, the other two were his cousins but they all had guns and they sometimes got nasty with the girls and the johns. She said the cop made a lot of money doing this on his off duty hours so beware.

Since then I still freelance but now I approach the girls. You always know they are up for it by the way they look at you. I choose the hotel and the cab and I always ask if the girl is over 18, even though most probably lie. I take a photo on my cellphone and tell them if they are setting me up then my friend General Bartolome will get them, then I show them his phone number and a photo of him in uniform I took from the web site of the PNP. Never had a problem and I have a lovely collection of my girlfriend’s photos, all dressed of course.