The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of Australian national Martin Cook for trafficking four minors sentencing him to life imprisonment, reiterating that even with minors’ consent, trafficking is still committed even when no coercive, abusive, or deceptive means were used against them.

In a Decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio T. Kho, Jr., the SC’s Second Division found Cook guilty of trafficking four boys between 11 and 13 years old, for harboring and receiving them in his house for prostitution and sexual exploitation. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay a PHP 2-Million fine, along with PHP 600,000.00 in damages to each of the four victims.

The SC, in affirming the penalty of life imprisonment imposed upon Cook, reiterated that such penalty, being prescribed by Republic Act (RA) No. 9208 or the 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘈𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 2003, as amended by RA 10364, a special penal law, does not admit of any mitigating or other modifying circumstances, as it does not adopt the nomenclature of penalties imposed by 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦 (RPC).

The case stemmed from the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s request for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate Cook’s alleged trafficking activities.

After conducting surveillance near Cook’s residence, the NBI interviewed the four children, who said their friends invited them to go to Cook’s house for food and money in exchange for sexual services.

Two of the four minor victims testified that they became acquainted with Cook on Facebook.

The SC found all the elements of qualified trafficking present and upheld the Cook’s conviction and life sentence.

In affirming the penalty of life sentence, albeit for a different reason, the SC clarified that since RA 9208, as amended by RA 10364, does not adopt the RPC’s penalty framework, any mitigating circumstance in favor of Cook must be disregarded.S

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