After pleading guilty to attempting to traffic her five children, a 45-year-old woman from Mandaue City, whose name is being withheld, was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this week by the Cebu City Regional Trial Court-Branch 11. The woman was arrested last April in the city’s Barangay Jagobiao following an entrapment operation by the Women and Children Protection Center-Visayas Field Unit (WCPC-VFU).
The case stemmed from a tip received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States and transmitted to the Philippines’ Department of Justice-Office of Cybercrime, where the assailant was then caught offering her six-year-old daughter as the subject of online sexual abuse in exchange for money.
Further investigations revealed three other daughters had previously suffered online sexual exploitation, along with an elder son considered to be an “at-risk youth.”
All five are currently undergoing interventions with the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
“Seeking to protect our children from OSEC (online sexual exploitation of children) does not stop with the rescue of victims or with the arrest of the perpetrators,” explained International Justice Mission-Cebu legal interventions director, Atty. Lucille Dejito. “It goes all the way to ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable for their crimes and OSEC survivors are eventually restored.”
In addition, WCPC-VFU chief, Police Colonel Romeo Perigo, noted, “Today’s conviction brings with it a harsh punishment of 15 long years of imprisonment for the offense she committed.”
“We hope that these long years of serving her sentence will serve as a warning to all suspects engaging in online sexual exploitation of children,” he added.
Last June, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which rates governments on their efforts in ending the illegal practice of human trafficking. This year, the Philippines ranked as Tier 1, which means they are compliant with the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, an American law that provides protections for trafficking victims.
“The Government of the Philippines fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” the report stated. “The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period.”
The report noted the Philippines has upped law enforcement efforts, prosecution proceedings, and prevention. However, in terms of capabilities in maintaining such processes, the country did lack in that sector.
“The government increased the Philippine National Police Women and Children’s Protection Center budget in 2018,” the report indicated. “However, government agencies continued to report inadequate resources for anti-trafficking investigations and prosecutions.”/WDJ