AUTHORITIES have arrested at least 169 suspected online human traffickers from various raids in the country as of Aug. 31, the International Justice Mission (IJM) said.
The arrests had led to the filing of human trafficking charges against the suspects and the conviction of at least 46 traffickers, the group said.
The group commended the efforts of Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and the Department of Justice, which led to the successful prosecution of a couple from Cordova town, Cebu.
“The recent verdict sentencing a couple to life imprisonment for qualified trafficking shows the growing momentum to end online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines through an effective justice system response,” said lawyer John Tanagho, IJM Cebu field office director.
Last Oct. 2, Judge Ferdinand Rafanan, of the Regional Trial Court Branch 55 in Mandaue City, found the couple guilty of qualified trafficking for sexually exploiting their six minor children inside their house in Cordova town, Mactan Island, Cebu.
Rafanan sentenced the couple to life imprisonment for qualified trafficking, five to 12 years of imprisonment for child abuse and 12 to 20 years for cyberpornography. The couple was also ordered to pay a fine totaling to P12.8 million.
SunStar Cebu is withholding the names of the couple in compliance with Republic Act 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, to protect the identities of their children.
Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 arrested the couple in a raid that caught them presenting three of their children and a niece naked in front of a computer-mounted camera last June 1, 2011.
The woman, who was pregnant during the arrest, admitted being engaged in online pornography but denied involving her children. (GMD)