VZCZCXRO9563
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHML #2459/01 2040826
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 230826Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7528
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNA/CDRUSPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANILA 002459 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP, INL, DRL 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
JUSTICE FOR CRIMINAL DIVISION 
STATE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KWMN EAID RP
SUBJECT: LATEST TIP CONVICTION 
 
REF: A. MANILA 1276 
     ¶B. MANILA 1054 
     ¶C. MANILA 1043 
     ¶D. MANILA 688 
 
¶1. Summary: On July 20, a regional trial court in Cebu City 
convicted and sentenced two people to life imprisonment for 
trafficking in persons (TIP), the sixth conviction in the 
Philippines to result in a jail sentence and the first in 
Cebu.  The judge also fined the defendants three million 
pesos (USD 66,900) and ordered them to pay 100,000 pesos (USD 
2,230) in civil damages to each of the nine victims.  The 
International Justice Mission, an NGO grantee of the State 
Department's Trafficking in Persons Office (G/TIP), 
celebrated the conviction, as it is the first trafficking 
case that any NGO investigated and prosecuted that led to a 
conviction, underscoring the unusual but effective 
partnership between the Philippine government and NGOs on 
this issue of common concern.   End Summary. 
 
---------------------- 
TIP CONVICTION IN CEBU 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. On July 20, the Regional Trial Court of Cebu City found 
defendants Theresa Castro and Rolando Cuico guilty of 
"qualified trafficking" (Section 6 of Republic Act 9208, the 
2003 anti-TIP law) and sentenced them to life imprisonment. 
The judge fined the two traffickers three million pesos (USD 
66,900) and ordered them to pay each of the nine victims 
100,000 pesos (USD 2,230) for "moral and exemplary damages." 
 
¶3.  This case stems from an investigation in the slum 
community of Kamagayan in Cebu City by the NGO International 
Justice Mission (IJM) beginning in December 2004, shortly 
after IJM received a two-year $227,000 grant from G/TIP.  The 
Kamagayan neighborhood was a well-known destination point for 
trafficked women and children, often from poorer communities 
in Mindanao and typically between the ages of 17-25, although 
children as young as 14 were sold for sex in the 
neighborhood's makeshift brothels after having been tricked 
into forced prostitution with promises of work as domestic 
helpers in Cebu.  . 
 
¶3. Based on NGO reports and law enforcement surveillance, 
undercover operatives from the Philippine National Bureau of 
Investigation (NBI) and IJM investigators conducted an 
entrapment operation against the two suspects, who reportedly 
had forced many women and children into prostitution in 
Kamagayan.  IJM rescued nine victims, including three minors, 
while authorities arrested two "pimps" and charged them with 
violation of R.A. 9208.  Under R.A. 9208, cases involving 
criminal syndicates or the trafficking of minors 
automatically count as "qualified trafficking" and carry 
stiffer penalties, including life imprisonment.  "Qualified 
trafficking" is also a non-bailable offense.  Social workers 
from the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and 
Development (DSWD) immediately took custody of the victims 
and have provided assistance over the past two years. 
 
----------------------------------- 
IJM'S EFFORTS TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶4. IJM established its office in Manila in 2001 and assembled 
a team of Philippine investigators, lawyers, and social 
workers to combat the exploitation and trafficking of 
children.  The office provides free legal, investigative, and 
social work assistance to abused and exploited children. 
Prior to the enactment of the 2003 Anti-TIP Law, IJM 
investigated and prosecuted cases of child sexual 
exploitation under R.A. 7610, the Special Protection of 
Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation, and 
Discrimination Act.  Since 2003, however, IJM attorneys have 
pursued all of their trafficking cases under the Anti-TIP Law. 
 
¶5. Since the awarding of the two-year G/TIP grant to IJM, its 
attorneys have filed 22 cases of trafficking with the 
Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ), leading to the arrest 
of 53 suspects and the rescue of 54 victims.  DOJ found 
probable cause in seventeen of the 22 cases and filed these 
in the courts.  The five other cases remain at DOJ, still 
undergoing inquest proceedings or preliminary investigations. 
 The July 20 conviction in Cebu (one of the 17 filed in 
court) is the first conviction in a case that IJM had 
 
MANILA 00002459  002 OF 002 
 
 
investigated and initiated.  The majority of IJM's cases 
result from similar entrapment operations -- conducted in 
close coordination and alongside Philippine law enforcement 
agents and government social workers. 
 
¶6. IJM-Philippines' Executive Director Patty Sison-Arroyo 
received the Embassy's prestigious Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino 
Fellowship in Public Service in 2006.  In 2007, IJM 
established a full-time office in Cebu to increase its 
presence and pursue cases in the Visayas.  In the 2007 G/TIP 
grant process, IJM submitted a new proposal, which was the 
top recommendation of the Mission's TIP Working Group from 
among 23 proposals. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7. This trafficking conviction in Cebu is a testament to the 
proactive efforts of Philippine NGOs, most notably IJM, to 
combat the exploitation of trafficked women and children in 
the Philippines.  This case also highlights an unusual but 
effective partnership between an NGO and the Philippine 
government to investigate and prosecute human traffickers. 
 
 
Visit Embassy Manila's Classified SIPRNET website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/manila/index. cfm 
 
You can also access this site through the State Department's 
Classified SIPRNET website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/ 
 
KENNEY