For seven years now, the parents of the children who were rescued from a cybersex enterprise in Cordova town, Cebu in 2011 languish in virtual hell, locked behind bars at the Lapu-Lapu City Jail while standing trial on charges of child pornography, human trafficking and child abuse.
“The cases have been submitted for decision,” said Prosecutor Lolita Lomanta who represents the state and the victims in court.
Judge Ferdinand Rafanan of Regional Trial Court Branch 55 in Mandaue City will pen the decision after three of the four judges who earlier took turns to hear the cases have retired.
While it could bring pain to the children, Lomanta nonetheless, hopes that the couple will get a conviction if only to render justice to their victims.
“Just imagine exploiting your own children. If you think of it, life imprisonment is not even enough for them. The law may be harsh but we have to impose it,” she said.
“This must serve as a lesson for every parent or any member of the family who takes advantage of children. Until now, there are still a lot of children being exploited by members of their own family. There are just people who have not learned their lesson yet,” she added.
Trial
During trial, the prosecution presented 10 witnesses in court against the couple accused of exploiting their own children through a pay-per-view cyberpornography business in 2011.
Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, the first witness, choked as she described the videotape she had watched of the children in lewd poses being directed by an adult behind the camera.
The tape sent to her by an informant in Cordova prompted the Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC) to call in the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“I couldn’t sleep after watching that,” Magpale recalled of the tape.
Magpale begged the judge to view the tape himself because she could not bear describing the scenes.
Agents of the US Homeland Security testified about the contents of the computer hard drive which they examined; while NBI raiders described how they caught the parents at home staging a live sex show with five of their children and a young niece in front of a web camera.
Regret
In an interview soon after her arrest along with her husband, the 40-year-old mother expressed remorse at what they did.
“Mangayo ko og pasaylo sa akong mga anak. (I ask my children’s forgiveness),” she said while in NBI custody.
“Nagmahay mi. Nahimo ni namo tungod sa among kawad- on. (We regret doing this; but we did it because of poverty),” she added.
The mother said she and her husband turned to online pornography for money, transacting with foreigners and receiving dollar payments, after they stopped working in a factory in Lapu-Lapu City.
The 51-year-old father, a former Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) worker, explained that the Internet racket was their only source of income and that they simply took up the business many of their neighbors were already doing.
Change of mind
While they initially admitted guilt, both parents made an abrupt change during arraignment and pleaded “not guilty” to charges of qualified trafficking, child abuse and child pornography.
They claimed to have done no harm to their children saying that all they had in mind was their family’s future.
In an affidavit, the mother denied engaging in a home-based cyberpornography business.
She said the computer at home, which was purchased in December 2010 or six months before the NBI raid, was intended for the children’s school projects and assignments.
She said they also earned extra money by letting neighbors use it for a fee since it had an Internet connection.
“Some of our neighbors come to our house one at a time and use our computer. They pay us for every hour of use. Sometimes, after using the computer, they also pay us P150 to get money from Western Union using our name and identification card. We also shared Internet connection with some of our neighbors for a fee,” she said in the affidavit.
According to her, the computer was also used by the friends of their children and some relatives while she and her husband also played computer games with it.
Money transfer service
The mother’s reference to Western Union (WU) was an indication of nefarious activities going on.
The money transfer service is known to authorities as a popular method of payment by online porn customers to Asian females.
Asked to explain why her name appeared on WU receipts, she said the money was actually for another neighbor, “Charlene”, a frequent customer of their Internet business, who, she claimed, had no ID to present to the money transfer service.
For other sources of income, the mother said the family sold banana cue and other snacks in the neighborhood.
At 9a.m. of June 1, 2011, NBI agents barged into the couple’s house in barangay Ibabao and arrested them.
The mother said she was preparing the children to go to school for enrollment. Some were having breakfast while the others were changing their clothes after taking a bath.
“They pointed their guns at all of us. They hit me at the back of my head. My daughter shouted ‘Sir, don’t hit my mother because she’s pregnant.’ But they did not heed the request of my daughter. They, instead, hit me several times,” the mother said.
The agents loaded everyone on separate vans and headed for the NBI regional office in Cebu City.
Social workers waiting outside, meanwhile, also bundled off the kids to the NBI office.
The mother said the criminal charges may have been instigated by a neighbor who had a grudge against them. The neighbor, a certain Arsenal, has an NBI agent friend, she said.
“I think these are the result of the quarrels that we had against our neighbor whose Internet connection with us was cut by my husband,” the mother claimed.
Five judges
The case was originally handled by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Toribio Quiwag of LapuLapu City, until the Supreme Court directed that cases in Cordova town should be handled by the Mandaue City RTC .
The cases were raffled off to Judge Silvestre Maamo of Mandaue City RTC Branch 55.
When Maamo returned to his regular post in Cebu City, Judge Glenda Go took over the case followed by Judge Ramon Daomilas before it was finally sent to Judge Rafanan.
Upon the advice of psychologists, the prosecution did not ask the children of the accused to testify in court.
“We’re doing this for the best interest of the children. You can just imagine the burden of testifying against your own parents,” Lomanta said.
“Even if they are aware that what was done to them was wrong, the fact remains that they still care for their parents,” she added.
Saving Lives
Lomanta said that the court’s verdict would not be as much of an issue as saving the children.
“You can just imagine what happened to them if until now they were still exploited. If they were not rescued, can you really see the possibility that two of them would have decent jobs now, while another is about to finish her studies in social work? Whether the cases end up either conviction or acquittal does not really matter. You know the most important thing is we were able to rescue six children,” she said.
“The work of a fiscal is not to convict but to make sure that justice is administered properly. We do our best, not for me, but for the children,” she said.
“My goodness, what could have been their future if they were not rescued? Now, we redeemed and gave them hope. Now they have a future,” she added.
(To be concluded)