The Supreme Court (SC) upheld the sentences of life imprisonment on Peter Gerald Scully and Carme Ann Alvarez for the recruitment of two minors for prostitution, pornography and sexual exploitation.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez dated 26 November 2024 and uploaded last 24 March, the SC’s Second Division affirmed their conviction for qualified trafficking under Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

Records showed that on 19 September 2014, Alvarez lured two girls, aged 9 and 12, from a mall by offering them food and promising more if they came with her. She then took them to a house where they met Scully.

Once inside, Scully gave the girls alcohol, made them undress, and took photos of them naked, then chained them by the neck and forced them to watch a pornographic film.

After that Scully and Alvarez sexually exploited the girls while documenting their sexual acts on a laptop.

The girls managed to escape four days later and reported the crime to police.

The Regional Trial Court (RTC) and the Court of Appeals convicted Scully and Alvarez, prompting their appeal before the SC.

Scully and Alvarez argued that their acts did not constitute trafficking as they abducted the girls to satisfy their lust, not of others.

Additionally, no pornographic material was presented as evidence. The defense argued that the RTC violated their constitutional right to be heard by preventing them from presenting their defense.

The SC denied their appeal, ruling that all elements of trafficking under RA 9208 were met.

Trafficking occurs when individuals are recruited, transported, or transferred — regardless of consent or knowledge — under threat, coercion, deception, or abuse of power for exploitative purposes such as prostitution, forced labor, slavery, or the removal or sale of organs.

The crime is classified as qualified trafficking when the victims are minors, which carries a life sentence.

The SC emphasized that the essence of trafficking is the act of recruiting or using, with or without consent, another human being for sexual exploitation. It is sufficient that they were proven to have lured, enticed, and transported their victims for sexual exploitation.

Therefore, the absence of pornographic material does not absolve Scully and Alvarez of their guilt.