Former congressman Mike Defensor stands to be charged with a non-bailable trafficking offense, with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) signaling it could submit the complaint before the end of next week, the agency’s chief said.
The qualified human trafficking case against the ex-lawmaker may be lodged as early as Friday, June 19, or by Monday, June 22, according to NBI Director Melvin Matibag, who discussed the matter on One News’ “Storycon.”
Matibag said investigators had finished mapping out the roles of those allegedly involved, and that the documentation placed Defensor squarely within the scope of the case. “We are able to complete the matrix na lumalabas, kasama po talaga siya,” he said.
The director also confirmed that the offense being readied against the former Quezon City representative would carry no provision for bail, meaning Defensor would face detention should the complaint prosper in court.
The pending action traces back to an April 21 raid by the NBI’s Special Task Group at a Pasig City entertainment venue, where 54 women, including some foreign nationals, were taken into protective custody on suspicion that they were being sexually exploited. The operation was carried out alongside the Department of Justice’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and social welfare authorities.
Defensor’s wife, Julie Rose, and their son, Miguel Gabriel, were named earlier as respondents in the original complaint filed with the Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office for alleged breaches of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. The NBI has said corporate records identify the two as officers of Zerrin Development Corp., the firm linked to the hotel where the alleged exploitation took place.
Investigators have described the setup as a single network in which clients were first received at a nightclub before being directed to adjacent hotel rooms, with the NBI maintaining that the establishments shared overlapping ownership and management. Matibag has previously asserted that one family controlled the interlocking entities behind both businesses.
The Defensors have rejected the accusations. Julie Rose Defensor earlier branded the allegations as a fabricated effort to manufacture a case against her family, while the former congressman has characterized the raid as politically driven and tied to a broader feud, denying that his relatives had any hand in running the raided business.
Under Philippine law, a qualified trafficking charge applies when aggravating circumstances are present, such as when victims number three or more or when the crime is committed by a syndicate or on a large scale, and it is among the offenses for which an accused cannot post bail.
