BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – A trial court judge has convicted 17 male Chinese nationals for their involvement in the operation of a cybersex lair in the metropolis.
In his decision dated Aug. 7, Judge Victorino Maniba of the Regional Trial Court – Branch 39 in Iloilo City convicted the Chinese nationals of a lesser offense after they entered a plea bargaining agreement with the prosecution.
Plea bargaining is a disposition of criminal charges whereby the accused and the prosecutor work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case subject to court approval.
This involves the defendant pleading guilty to a lesser offense or only one or some of the counts of a multi-count indictment in return for a lighter sentence than that for the graver charge.
It is encouraged because it leads to the prompt and final disposition of most criminal cases and shortens the time between charge and disposition.
The Chinese nationals were indicted of a string of criminal cases in court following their arrest during a raid on the cybersex den at Lawa-an Subdivision in Barangay Balatang, Jaro district last Nov. 4, 2023.
They were charged with qualified trafficking in person, obscene publication and exhibition through information and communication, and violation of the cybercrime law.
Judge Maniba approved the plea bargain deal and sentenced the convicts to jail terms ranging from four months of arresto mayor as a minimum to eight months of prision correccional for qualified trafficking in person. They were also ordered to pay a fine of P75,000 each and additional imprisonment if they failed to pay.
The judge also ordered the convicts to pay P75,000 each as a fine after they pleaded guilty to a lesser offense for the crime of obscene publication and exhibition through information and communication.
Likewise, the Chinese nationals were ordered to pay again and fined P75,000 each for violation of the cybercrime law.
The convicted Chinese nationals were re-arraigned and entered a guilty plea after they entered into a plea bargaining agreement with the government prosecutors.
Judge Maniba also ordered the jail warden of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo, to transfer the convicts to the Bureau of Immigration, which will also process their deportation after serving their sentence and full payment of their fines.
The Chinese nationals were arrested in a raid stemming from the search warrant issued by Judge Maniba on the house where the respondents were allegedly operating the cybersex den.
Police said the suspects were all of legal age and believed to be facilitators for Filipino and foreign clients of the cybersex operation.
The accused were reportedly operating for about six months before their arrest. The police conducted the monitoring and surveillance of their operations for more than one month.
Authorities recovered 24 computer units, 49 assorted units of cellular phones, two switch hubs TP-link with 24 ports, two routers, one projector, one monitor, one modem, and one bundle and four boxes of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards./PN
