2 women get life for sex trafficking

BY JEFFREY DAMICOG

Two women have been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of engaging in sex trafficking, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announced Thursday.

NBI officer-in-charge Director Eric B. Distor said that last March 4, the Laguna Family Court Branch 6 ruled that it found Mary Jane Mendoza and Magdalena Viray guilty of five counts of qualified trafficking of persons under Republic Act (RA) 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 as amended by RA 10364.

“The court ordered the two accused to suffer life imprisonment for each count and also ordered them to pay a fine of P2 million without eligibility for parole and to pay each private complainants the amount P200,000.00 as moral damages and P100,000.00 as exemplary damages,” the NBI said in a statement.

Mendoza and Viray were arrested on Sept. 26, 2019 during an entrapment operation conducted by the NBI’s Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Division (NBI-AVAWCD).

During the operation, NBI-AVAWCD agents rescued five females including three minors.

Also arrested with them was their male companion Warren Masacayan.

“The court, however, ordered the acquittal of Warren Masacayan y Reyes for failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the latter,” the NBI said.