The Supreme Court (SC), in a recent ruling, stated that the recruitment of children for sexual exploitation can be considered trafficking, even without the use of threat, force, or intimidation.

“There is trafficking in persons if the victim is a child, even when the means employed are different from those set forth in the law,” the SC Second Division said in a 10-page decision.

The ruling was issued by the SC as it affirmed the conviction of two individuals for qualified trafficking.

According to the court, police conducted an entrapment operation in 2016, during which the two accused offered to provide girls aged 14 to 18 for a birthday party for P1,000 each for three hours and P3,000 for overnight.

Several female minors were brought by the accused to the undercover agents on the agreed date, leading to their arrest following the acceptance of the marked money.

During the trial, the victims testified that the accused enticed them to attend a party and perform sexual acts for money.

In their appeal before the SC, the two accused argued that the prosecution failed to prove that they threatened, forced, or coerced the minors.

Both the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals found the accused guilty of qualified trafficking under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

In their appeal before the SC, the two accused argued that the prosecution failed to prove that they threatened, forced, or coerced the minors.

The court stated that trafficking occurs when individuals are recruited, transported, or transferred for exploitative purposes, including prostitution, forced labor, slavery, or the removal or sale of organs, through threats or use of force, coercion, deception, abuse of power, or by offering money.

Under Section 3(a) of the law, recruiting a child for sexual exploitation is sufficient to establish trafficking, regardless of the means used, the court said.

“The absence of threat, force, or coercion is immaterial and irrelevant,” the SC stated.

It added, “At any rate, accused-appellants evidently took advantage of the victims’ youth and need to earn money to obtain their consent.”

The accused were sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of P2 million for each of the eight counts.

Aside from the jail sentence, the two were also ordered to jointly and severally pay each of the victims P500,000 as moral damages and P100,000 as exemplary damages, with a legal interest of 6 percent per annum from the finality of the decision until fully paid.

Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen penned the decision, which was promulgated in December 2024 and made public this month.