MANILA – A total of 19 Russian women suspected to be working as prostitutes in a nightclub in Pampanga are set to be deported, the Bureau of Immigration said Friday.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the arresting team caught the Russian women in flagrante or in the act of working as guest relations officers (GROs) inside the Club Angel in Clark Field, Angeles City.

Two Koreans, believed to be their recruiters and employers were also arrested in the operation Wednesday night.

They were identified as Jeong Seonghun and Lee Kyurak, both 30, working as the club’s cashier and manager, respectively. The two facilitated the women’s entry into the country.

“They will all be deported for working without visas and for other immigration offenses,” said Morente. Those arrested, he said, are undesirable aliens engaged in prostitution that catered to customers who were charged an hourly rate of P1,500 for the women's services.

The arresting team also found out that the Koreans are both overstaying aliens who arrived in the country several months ago as tourists.

“We have recommended that charges for violating the Anti-Trafficking In Persons Act be filed against the two Koreans as they were the ones who supposedly facilitated the entry of these women into the country,” BI intelligence officer Jude Hinolan, who led the arresting team, said.

The Philippine immigration act strictly forbids foreigners from engaging in gainful activity without applying for work permits and visas.

All 21 foreigners were later brought to the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa where they are confined pending deportation proceedings that will be initiated against them.