CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno over the weekend lauded the regional court here as well as the organizations who worked for the conviction of Australian sex offender Peter Gerard Scully.

The court on Wednesday, June 13, found Scully and his Filipina partner Carmen Ann Alvarez “guilty beyond reasonable doubt” of one count of qualified human trafficking and five counts of rape by sexual assault charges.

Both have been sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay their victims in the six cases more than P5 million in damages.

Moreno said it was a great day for Cagayan de Oro to witness the first conviction of the Australian pedophile who tortured, raped, and murdered a child while filming it.

The Australian still faces up to 60 further charges for child murder, torture and abuse cases against children as young as 12-months-old.

“Scully's conviction speaks well of the government's commitment to uphold and enforce the law. Also, that justice prevails,” Moreno said.

The Kagay-anon Against Sex Offenders (Kaso), a local anti-trafficking group, said the decision firmed up their belief in the country's judicial system.

It also inspired them to further intensify the anti-human trafficking drive in the city, lawyer Perfecto Justino Mendoza, legal officer of Balaod Mindanaw said.

“We are happy that justice has finally come to the survivors & their families. This is a big boost in their path to full healing and recovery,” he said.

“The decision also firmed up our belief in our judicial system. And it gave hope to other survivors of trafficking & sexual abuse that justice will come to them too. It also strengthened our resolve to further intensify our initiatives vs human trafficking in order to make the world a safer place for us all especially our children,” Mendoza said.

Scully and Alvarez faces life imprisonment for the qualified trafficking of person and will be made to pay P5 million fine and another six to nine years of imprisonment and fine of P120,000 for damages for each count of rape by sexual assault charges.