SPECIAL PENAL LAWS | 2016 2017 | ATTY.

IYOK ABITRIA

TRAFFICKING

1. PEOPLE v CASIO (2014)

DIGEST AUTHOR: Bulotano, Kevin J.
DOCTRINE: The necessary information regarding the Anti-Human Trafficking Act is placed in the
Ratio.
FACTS:

Casio was charged of violation of Anti-Traficking in Persons Act of 2003.

It was stated that she hired/recruited a minor for the purpose of prostitution and sexual
exploitation.
Casio was arrested through an entrapment operation performed by the police acting as customers.
The person Casio was pimping admitted that she works as a prostitute.

ISSUE: Whether or not Casio is guilty of trafficking of persons

HELD: Yes, Casio is guilty.
RATIO:

The case was a primer on how the Act works. It included the following: a) background, b)
elements, and c) consent as not a defense.
First, human traficking is defined as follows:
o "Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring
or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of
abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability
or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person
having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall
include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of
sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery,
servitude or the removal of organs.
o The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose
of exploitation shall be considered "trafficking in persons" even if this does not involve
any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article.
o "Child" shall mean any person under eighteen years of age.
The elements are the following:
o The act of "recruitment, obtaining, hiring, providing, offering, transportation, transfer,
maintaining, harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victims consent or
knowledge, within or across national borders;"
o The means used include "by means of threat, or use of force, or other forms of coercion,
abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the
vulnerability of the person, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve
the consent of a person having control over another person"
o The purpose of trafficking includes "the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other
forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or
sale of organs"
 SPECIAL PENAL LAWS | 2016 2017 | ATTY. IYOK ABITRIA

Lastly, consent is not considered a defense due to the coercive and deceptive means employed by
the perpetrators of human traficking. Despite the fact that the persons Casio peddled previously
engaged in prostitution services, thereby arguing that they consented to such acts, the law still
provides that the violation can still be committed whether or not consent was present.
Casio was validly charged because all of the elements were present. It was even qualified because
the individuals she peddled were just minors.
Entrapment operation was valid because the police did not instigate Casio to commit the crime.
They only made a ruse in order to lure Casio.