Man found guilty of human trafficking; “I am a victim of injustice.”

CEBU, Philippines - This was the statement of Valentino Martin, a resident of Cebu City, who was found guilty yesterday for violating the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

Martin and three others namely: Loida Valencia, Sheila Valencia and Mariane Diaz were accused of conniving with each other and violating Section 4(e) in relation to Section 6 of Republic Act 9208 for recruiting and maintaining 16 women to engage in prostitution or pornography in exchange of monetary consideration.

The teary-eyed Martin faced the media and denied the charges saying the allegations of the prosecution were devoid of truth.

With Martin’s conviction, lawyer Noel Archival said they will file a motion for reconsideration citing the court’s failure to appreciate their evidence.

Martin was sentenced to suffer the penalty of 20 years in jail and pay a fine of P1 million. However, Judge Simeon Dumdum of the Regional Trial Court ruled that the number of years that the accused was detained shall be credited to the service of his sentence.

The accused were arrested on December 3, 2010 at Gate 3 in J. Panis St., Barangay Banilad, Cebu City through an entrapment operations by the Regional Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (RAHTTF)-7.

In his decision, Dumdum acquitted sisters Loida and Sheila for insufficiency of evidence. The court did not render judgment to Diaz who passed away last year due to illness. “Going by the evidence of the prosecution, the court finds that of the four accused, only Martin and Diaz were the most active in the transactions. Martin was clearly the ringleader,” the decision reads.

PO1 Cliferson Olandag testified that their office RAHTTF-7 received information that trafficking in persons occurred at Gate 3 located at J. Panis St. Hence, surveillance was conducted.

At around 8:00 in the evening on November 25, 2010, he said they used a private car and went to the area to conduct surveillance.

There, he said a woman later known as Loida opened the gate for them and talked with Martin and a certain Rey about the girls and their price.

“Val Martin led us to a display room where they were made to choose from a collection of girls. I noticed that before we entered the room, a woman, who was later identified as Sheila pressed the buzzer to alert the girls about the guests’ arrival,” he narrated.

Among the girls displayed, he said they chose two and paid P4,000 to Martin. He added that they brought the girls to the karaoke bar where they ordered food and drinks and extracted information from them about the activities of the accused. He said they confirmed that Gate 3 was indeed “a prostitution den” and reported to their superior Senior Insp. Maria Theresa Macatangay.

On Dec. 3, Macatangay conducted a briefing in preparation for an entrapment operation and the implementation of a search warrant. Olandag and PO1 Ref Nemenzo served as poseur-customers.

On the said date at around 4:30 in the afternoon, Olandag said he and Nemenzo went to Gate 3 and chose three girls “supposedly for purposes of sex” and gave P7,500 to Diaz. He said it was Martin who pressed the buzzer to alert the girls and Diaz led them to the display room.

After the transaction was consummated, Nemenzo made a pre-arranged signal to Macatangay. The members of the team and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) rushed in and declared arrest while the victims were turned over to DSWD.

Olandag’s testimonies were corroborated by other responding policemen.

In the crime scene, the responding team recovered condoms and notebooks containing the names of customers and the places to which the girls were brought as well as the name of Martin as manager. They also recovered pornographic magazines, list of debts, hygiene cards, contraceptive pills, empty bullet shells, vibrator, sex-enhancing pills and certificates of live birth.

In her statement, Loida, a resident of Pasay City in Metro Manila, denied the charges. She said that on Nov. 28, 2010 she arrived in Cebu City and stayed in J. Panis St. with her sister, Josephine, who is the wife of Martin.

She said that she came to Cebu to help in her sister’s store. She denied selling condoms to the occupants of Gate 3 but admitted that in their store they sold condoms, which she believes is not illegal.

Sheila denied the allegations and said that on Dec. 3, she was inside the store when she was arrested by the police.

Martin, in his statement, denied that he recruited and maintained 16 women for purposes of prostitution. He said the P7,500 mentioned by the prosecution which he received was payment for the beer they were about to buy.

In his 14-page decision, Dumdum ruled to hold Martin guilty of the crime charged. He said the participation of the accused during the entrapment operation was clear while the others were not.

“As to Loida, her only participation consisted in opening the gate on Nov. 25, when the policemen first came to Gate 3. She was in-charge of the buzzer but this was not confirmed during the entrapment operation. She just happened to be tending the store during the raid…while Sheila during the entrapment operation was just inside the store,” the decision reads.

Andrey Sawchencko of the International Justice Mission (IJM) said they respect the court’s decision. However, he added that they will review the ruling of Dumdum as to the acquittal of the two accused.

Meanwhile, Archival said his acquitted clients will be filing damage suits against the IJM for ruining their reputations. He added that the IJM has no personality to prosecute the case here in the Philippines.

Sawchenko, however, refused to comment pending the filing of the damage suit.

Under the new rules on human trafficking, the confidentiality issue on the accused was lifted however, confidentiality on the identity of the trafficked persons remained.— (FREEMAN)