THE Supreme Court (SC) modified the conviction of two Makati night club personnel from qualified to simple trafficking in persons, reducing their prison terms and monetary penalties after ruling that the prosecution failed to prove the minority of the victim beyond reasonable doubt.
In a decision dated April 30, 2024 and made public on Oct. 15, penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, the high court’s Third Division sentenced principal accused Ofelia A. Comia to 20 years of imprisonment and ordered her to pay a fine of P1 million for simple trafficking under Republic Act No. 9208, as amended.
Her accomplice, cashier Maricel G. Tapon, was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment and ordered to pay a P500,000 fine.
The ruling modified the lower court’s sentence of life imprisonment after finding that the victim’s birth certificate was unregistered, and her private school records were unauthenticated.
The tribunal said that “the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the minority” of the victim, noting that an unregistered birth certificate “cannot be considered as a public document and the Court cannot take it as prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.”
Addressing the prosecution’s reliance on forensic dental tests, the SC held that “an ‘unerupted third molar’ does not conclusively prove a person’s age or minority.”
The court also noted that the victim admitted to falsifying her birthdate on public documents, casting “serious doubts to the credibility and integrity of her testimony as to her age.”
Despite lowering the offense, the SC affirmed that the substantive crime of human trafficking was fully established.
The tribunal noted that “the mere fact of offering AAA for prostitution or sexual exploitation duly establishes” the offense, observing that Ms. Comia exploited the victim by “taking advantage of the victim’s vulnerability” and need for money to pay for her sick father.
Meanwhile, Ms. Tapon was held liable for manifesting “intent to supply material aid in the prostitution of the girls” by collecting payments and distributing condoms.
The high tribunal also ordered Ms. Comia and Ms. Tapon to pay P500,000 in moral damages — split P333,00 and P166,666.67 according to their respective liabilities — while deleting exemplary damages for failure to establish qualifying or aggravating circumstances. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking