The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the conviction of a recruiter who had been found guilty of trafficking five minors aging 14 to 17 years old for prostitution in 2018.
In a decision written by Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez, the SC upheld with modification the guilty verdict imposed on recruiter Joko P. Celis, alias “Jaztine or Joco/Joko” who was charged with seven counts of qualified trafficking in persons.
However, the SC ruled that Celis is guilty of qualified human trafficking only in five cases since the ages of the two other victims at the time the crime was committed could not be ascertained.
One of those recruited was a single mother who had a one-year-old child. She testified she needed money for the milk and other needs of her child.
Court records showed that their recruiter was arrested in a Quezon City bar during an entrapment operation conducted by the police on January 30, 2018. Subsequently the authorities charged Celis with seven counts of qualified trafficking in persons. He denied the charges.
After trial, the regional trial court convicted Celis of seven violations of qualified trafficking in persons under Section 4(a) in relation to Section 6(a) and (c) of Republic Act No. 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as amended by RA 10364, the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012. Rey E. Requejo
Section 4(a) of RA 9208 on acts of trafficking in persons provides: “lt shall be unlawful for any person, natural or juridical, to commit any of the following acts: to recruit, obtain, hire, provide, offer, transport, transfer, mainttain, harbor, or receive a person by any means, including those done under the pretext of domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, or sexual exploitation.”
Under Section 6, there is qualified human trafficking when the trafficked person is a child, someone below 18 years of age.
The RTC sentenced Celis to life imprisonment and a fine of P2 million in each of the seven cases. He was also ordered to pay P500,000 in moral damages and P100,000 exemplary damages to each of the victims.
Celis elevated his conviction before the Court of Appeals (CA). On Feb. 26, 2021, the CA affirmed in full the RTC’s decision. Celis filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
In ruling against Celis, the SC modified the RTC and CA’s ruling, saying Celis is guilty of qualified human trafficking only in five cases since the ages of the two other victims at the time the crime was committed could not be ascertained.
Thus, in the two cases, Celis was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, a fine of P1 million, and P600,000 damages for each of the two victims.
The SC affirmed the life imprisonment, P2 million fine in each of the five cases and payment of damages of P600,000 to each of the five victims.
“Verily, for the crime of trafficking in persons to be consummated, it is immaterial that sexual intercourse or lascivious acts had not taken place and that the victim consented thereto. The mere transaction consummates the crime,” the SC ruled.
“What is essential under the law is that a person is recruited and transported for the purpose of prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. Precisely, what the law aims to curtail is the act of recruiting or using, with or without consent, a fellow human being for sexual exploitation,” it said.
The high court pointed out that the victim does not have to be actually subjected to prostitution or had sex with a client before the recruiter can be held criminally liable under the law.
“Accordingly, the appeal (of Celis) is denied. The Court of Appeals’ Decision dated Feb. 26, 2021 is affirmed with modifications . . . the accused-appellant Joko Celis y Pine a.k.a. ‘Jastine’ or ‘Joco/Joko’ is guilty of qualified trafficking in persons in violation of Section 4(a) in relation to Section 6 (a) and (c) of Republic Act No. 9208, as amended by Republic Act No. 10364 (Expanded Anti-Trafficking Act of 2012),” the SC held.