One hundred and two human trafficking victims, detained for nearly two years on what their lawyers called false charges, have been acquitted and released by a Pangasinan regional trial court.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) had filed four criminal cases against them.

Presiding Judge Roselyn C. Andrada-Borja of Pangasinan RTC Branch 53 dismissed all four cases for "failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused due to insufficiency of evidence," according to Tan Briones & Associates (TBA), who represented 47 of the accused.

In a 24-page resolution dated June 25, 2025, Judge Andrada-Borja granted a Demurrer to Evidence filed by the defense lawyers and ordered the immediate release of all 102 prisoners.

"Justice at last, not only for our 47 Masbateño clients, but for all the 102 Filipinos who were duped into thinking they had secured lawful jobs from Chinese recruiters, only to find themselves jailed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Renfred Tan, TBA's lead counsel.

The 102 Filipinos were recruited from various provinces, including Masbate (47), Negros (28), and Bulacan (27). Tan explained that the accused were victims of a Chinese human trafficking operation.

They were offered attractive factory jobs, unaware that their workplace in Rosales was a clandestine manufacturing site for cigarettes bearing fake BIR stamps.

Joint operatives from the BIR and the Pangasinan Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) raided the site in Barangay Carmay, leading to the arrest of both Chinese employers and the 102 Filipino laborers.

Court records show Chinese national Wu Niko was named the principal accused, with 27 of his associates and the 102 Filipinos as alleged conspirators in four counts of unlawful possession of fake BIR stamps and other paraphernalia used for producing counterfeit cigarettes.

After their arrests on 28 November 2023, 64 of the accused Filipinos posted bail, while 38 remained in local Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) custody until Judge Andrada-Borja's recent dismissal of all cases.

The accused Chinese nationals, including Wu Niko, posted bail in another RTC branch but failed to appear for their arraignment on 8 January  2024, in Judge Andrada-Borja's courtroom and have remained fugitives.

TBA lawyers emphasized in their Motion to Dismiss that a prosecution witness admitted during cross-examination that the inclusion of the 102 Filipino workers in the complaint was merely "based on assumption" because they were present during the raid.

In dismissing the cases, Judge Andrada-Borja highlighted the prosecution's failure to establish that "the search and seizure conducted by the joint operatives of the BIR and CIDG was based on a valid search warrant nor that the same falls under any of the exceptions."

She further explained that the BIR's authority to make arrests and seizures for penal law violations remains "subservient to the people's right against unreasonable searches and seizures as enshrined in Section 2, Article III of the 1987 Constitution."

The presiding judge also noted the law enforcement's failure to comply with the chain of custody rule, which tainted the integrity of the seized evidence, rendering it inadmissible.

"To emphasize, the prosecution bears the burden of proving the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt in order to sustain a conviction of the accused," Judge Andrada-Borja's resolution said.

"This rule places upon the prosecution the task of establishing the guilt of an accused, relying on the strength of its own evidence, and not banking on the weakness of the defense of an accused," it added.