Qualified trafficking in persons

This is about qualified trafficking in person under Republic Act (RA) 9208 as amended by RA 10364. This is the case of Brenda who is already separated from her husband and working abroad. Before their separation, Brenda and her husband had a child, Amy.

When Amy was about 14 years old and a grade four student, her mother went home for a yearly vacation accompanied by Mohamed, a man from Kuwait. Since then, Mohamed provides them financial support. But such support was actually in exchange for allowing Mohammed to touch and lick Amy’s private parts. Despite Amy’s refusal, her mother persisted and reminded Åher that Mohamed had been generous in providing them with their basic needs. Hence Amy had no choice but to give in to the sexual molestation by Mohammed, which occurred about twice or thrice a week.

Brenda then accompanied Amy to get a passport, which ended up in a mosque where Amy was forced to marry Mohamed so she could travel with him to Kuwait. When Mohammed tried to have sexual intercourse with her, Amy pretended that she could not breathe. So Mohammed stopped but told her she could not deny him sexual access because she was already his wife.

Later on, Amy went to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) to attend a guidance seminar and counseling, which is a pre-requisite for Filipino spouses of foreign nationals to acquire passport. During the seminars, the supervising officer of the CFO, Remy Licerio, found out that Amy was a Catholic and was 14 years old while her partner Mohammed was a Muslim and 56 years old, and that Amy’s mother Brenda deceived her into marrying Mohammed.

So Amy was referred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for intervention and assistance as a victim of human trafficking, with her mother Brenda as the perpetrator. In said office, Amy revealed all that happened to her as above enumerated. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also conducted an investigation and gathered the documentary evidence from the CFO. The NBI psychologist then interviewed Amy, and observed that she had difficulty in relating to people, especially with the opposite sex. She was also suffering from trauma brought by sexual violence she experienced at the hands of Mohammed.

In view of all these findings, Brenda and Mohammed were charged with Qualified Trafficking in persons under Section 4(c) in relation to Section (a) and (d) of R.A 6208 as amended by R.A 10364 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila where Amy and the other officers of the CFO, DSWD and NBI testified to prove the above facts.

Only Brenda was arrested and tried by the RTC because Mohammed remained at large. Brenda testified that Mohammed was her employer in Kuwait who usually goes to the Philippines with her and stays in her house, sleeping with her two sons while her daughter Amy would sleep beside her. She said that she had no knowledge that Mohammed and Amy were in a relationship. She denied that she deceived and forced Amy to marry Mohammed. Was Brenda guilty?

Yes, all the elements of Qualified Trafficking in persons are present in this case:

First, Amy’s birth certificate shows she was only 13 years old at the time her spurious marriage with Mohammed took place. Brenda also admitted that she is the mother of Amy.

Second, the evidence shows beyond reasonable doubt that Brenda forced and deceived her own daughter Amy into marrying Mohammed for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Brenda also knows that even when Amy was only 9 to 10 years old, Mohammed was already sexually abusing her but she did nothing. She even triggered it each time.

Third, Brenda took advantage of Amy’s minority and vulnerability when she coerced her to submit to the sexual desires of Mohammed as a form of payment for the latter’s financial support to the family.

Fourth, the sexual abuses went on for several years until Amy was 14 years old, when Brenda saw the possibility of marrying her off to Mohammed.

Fifth, not satisfied with marriage alone, Brenda also allowed Mohammed to have sexual intercourse with Amy to consummate their marriage.

Finally, Brenda even assisted Amy in the CFO to get a passport so that she could be with Mohammed. She even submitted a false marriage certificate showing that Amy was of legal age. Taken together, these acts of Brenda lead to the indubitable conclusion that she delivered and provided Mohammed her own daughter for purposes of sexual exploitation and that she and Mohammed acted in concert with the common design and purpose of committing the crime.

So Brenda and Mohammed are guilty of Qualified Trafficking in person and sentenced to life imprisonment, to pay a fine of P2 million and moral damages of P500,000 as well as exemplary damage of P100,000. (People vs. BBB and XXX, GR 252507, April 18, 2022.)

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