Recruiter gets life for trafficking 5 girls

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has sentenced a recruiter to life in prison and fined P2 million for trafficking five girls for prostitution.

In a decision dated Aug. 14, the high court’s Second Division affirmed with modification the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling, which found Joko Celis guilty of seven counts of qualified trafficking in persons.

Celis was arrested during an entrapment operation in a bar in January 2018 after he peddled seven girls aged 14 to 17 for sexual acts.

One of those recruited was a single mother who testified that she needed money for milk and other needs of her child.

A regional trial court has convicted Celis of seven counts of qualified trafficking and sentenced him to life in prison. He was ordered to pay a fine of P2 million in each of the seven cases.

He was also ordered to pay each victim P600,000 in moral and exemplary damages.

Celis appealed the case before the CA, which affirmed the lower court’s ruling, prompting him to elevate the case to the SC.

In its ruling, the SC explained that Celis was proven guilty of qualified trafficking in only five of the seven cases because the ages of the two victims at the time the crime was committed could not be ascertained.

The high tribunal said that in those two cases, Celis was found liable for simple trafficking.