RTC dismisses anti-trafficking case vs 3 persons

CEBU, Philippines - The Regional Trial Court has dismissed the anti-trafficking case filed against three persons after the prosecution failed to establish their guilt.

Judge Soliver Peras of RTC Branch 10 cleared Tara Dacayana, Rico Lauron and Mary Grace Cumayas from the charges.

“Wherefore, there is reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused, they must be acquitted even though their innocence may be doubted,” the decision reads.

Police Officer 2 Crisostomo Bayato, Jr., one of the prosecution’s witnesses, said that at around 11 p.m. on July 9, 2013, their office received information about the presence of prostitutes along Juana Osmeña Boulevard.

Acting on the information, Bayato, who acted as the poseur-customer, said they proceeded to the area.

There, he was allegedly asked by a homosexual, who was later identified as Lauron, if he was looking for girls for sex. The police officers then arrested Lauron.

Lauron denied the allegation, saying he did not offer sexual services for money. He claimed that he was picked up by the policemen while eating inside a convenience store.

Dacayana and Cumayas, on the other hand, said they were standing outside a pharmacy at Fuente Osmeña after buying lotion and tissue when a taxicab stopped in front of them.

The passengers then asked them where they were going, to which the two women answered that they were headed to a motel.

However, instead of bringing them into the said motel, Dacayana and Cumayas said they were brought to the Cebu City Police Office.

The accused denied that they trafficked five women.

With this, Peras said the “entrapment operation has not been consummated.”

Aside from that, Peras added that the prosecution “failed to establish how and when the bust money was recovered from the accused.” (FREEMAN)