Woman gets 15 yrs for cyberporn

CEBU, Philippines — The Regional Trial Court has convicted a 22-year-old woman last week for allegedly sexually exploiting minor girls online in exchange for money.

The accused was sentenced to 15-year imprisonment for attempted trafficking and one to two months of jail term for child pornography.

She was also ordered to pay P1.1 million in fines and damages for attempted trafficking and P50,000 for child pornography.

Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan of RTC Branch 7 made the verdict after the accused admitted to the crime by pleading guilty during arraignment.

The FREEMAN is withholding the names of the parties involved in an effort to keep the identities of the children rescued.

The case stemmed from an entrapment operation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation-Anti Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) on December 5, 2015 following reports that the accused engaged in online sexual exploitation of children.

The operation led to the arrest of the accused in her residence in Cordova town.

Five children ages 6 to 15 were rescued. They were a niece and neighbors of the accused.

Cordova Mayor Mary Therese Sitoy- Cho said the conviction of accused was another victory in their fight against online sexual exploitation of children.

“But this fight is not only about jailing Filipino online traffickers. The global criminal justice system also needs to go after foreign predators who lure Filipinos with their money to feed their inhumane and pervert desires,” she said in a statement to the press.

“The Philippine criminal justice system will be more victorious if demand countries are also able to put these foreign predators behind bars,” she added.

The International Justice Mission (IJM) also supported the case.

So far, 68 cases supported by the IJM have resulted in the conviction of suspects perpetrating online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), which the group considers as a violent and global form of human trafficking.

OSEC involves foreign online predator demanding sexually exploitative materials of children from Filipino online traffickers. (FREEMAN)