VZCZCXRO1256
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHML #1043 0920507
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 020507Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5921
INFO RUEHZS/ASEAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS MANILA 001043 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP AND EAP/MTS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL RP
SUBJECT: New Trafficking Conviction 
 
REF A: Manila 688 
--  B: 05 Manila 6039 
--  C. 05 Manila 5710 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: A regional court in Zamboanga City on March 29 
sentenced a member of a trafficking syndicate to life imprisonment 
under Republic Act 9208 for having recruited six victims and peddled 
them to a brothel in Sandakan, Malaysia. The case is the fifth 
conviction resulting in a jail sentence specifically under the 2003 
Philippine anti-trafficking law.  Septel will discuss prosecutions 
and convictions under related legislation.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  On March 29, the Sixteenth Regional Trial Court in Zamboanga 
City (Mindanao) found a defendant guilty of "qualified" trafficking 
under the Philippine Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 
(Republic Act 9208) and the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos 
Act of 1995, sometimes called the "anti-illegal recruitment law" 
(Republic Act 8042), both of which carry life prison sentences, 
which the judge imposed.  (Note: Under RA 9208, cases involving 
criminal syndicates or the trafficking of minors are automatically 
categorized as "qualified trafficking," which carries a stiffer 
penalty.  End Note)   He also fined the defendant six million pesos 
(USD 125,000) and ordered her to pay each of the six victims 200,000 
pesos (USD 41,165) for "moral and exemplary damages, plus court 
costs."   The convicted trafficker is expected to file an appeal but 
remains in jail. 
 
¶3.  According to the court's ruling, the defendant, together with 
other five members of a trafficking syndicate (still at at-large), 
convinced the six victims to work as entertainers in Malaysia with 
monthly salaries of 25,000 pesos (USG 520). In May 2005, the 
trafficker escorted the victims from Manila to Zamboanga City, where 
they boarded a ferry to Sandakan, Malaysia.  A Malaysian national, 
allegedly the defendant's live-in partner, met the victims at the 
Sandakan wharf and escorted them to the VIP Pub. For about a month 
and a half, the six women were forced to provide sexual services to 
several customers each day against their will and were threatened 
and beaten up when they refused.  The pub did not pay any of them 
for their work.  The owner reportedly told them that they owed money 
to the pub for the expenses incurred in bringing them to Sandakan 
and that they must pay their debts by providing sexual services to 
the customers of the pub. 
 
¶4.  The victims were able to contact their families in the 
Philippines, who reported their case to the Philippine Department of 
Foreign Affairs (DFA), which instructed the victims to contact a 
Filipino volunteer in Sandakan to get word to Malaysian authorities. 
 On July 12, 2005, Malaysian immigration authorities took into 
custody all six victims, together with the defendant and her 
Malaysian partner.  (The Malaysian authorities later apparently 
released from jail the defendant's Malaysian partner.)  The victims 
said that the Malaysian national tried to bail out the defendant 
from the Malaysian authorities, but without any success.  For three 
weeks, the victims and the defendant remained in a Malaysian 
detention center for deportees, after which they were repatriated to 
Zamboanga, thanks to the efforts of a Philippine Embassy volunteer. 
The Philippine Embassy then coordinated with the Philippine National 
Bureau of Investigation on the arrest of the defendant. 
 
¶5.  The same team of prosecutors and judge who prosecuted the first 
Philippine TIP conviction in Zamboanga (refs b and c) also handled 
this case.  Lead prosecutor Ricardo Cabaron (the winner of the 
Embassy's prestigious Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Fellowship in Public 
Service in 2007) and assistant prosecutor Darlene Pajarito filed the 
case on August 24, 2005 and conducted the prosecution until May 
2006, but Judge Jesus Carbon took ten months to issue his verdict. 
 
 
¶6.  Comment:  This case is the country's fifth conviction under RA 
9208 resulting in a jail sentence, and Zamboanga City's second TIP 
case with convictions.  The judicial system in the Philippines is 
notoriously time-consuming, but Philippine authorities are 
increasingly utilizing a variety of laws to go after the many types 
of traffickers, as septel will discuss in greater depth. 
KENNEY