TACLOBAN CITY (PNA) – A mother from Sta. Margarita, Samar who sexually exploited her 10-year-old daughter was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday.
Judge Reynaldo Clemens of the Calbayog City Regional Trial Court Branch 31 sentenced a 33-year-old mother after she pleaded guilty to offering to stream the abuse on her own daughter live.
As part of a plea bargain, she was sentenced after confessing to the crime of attempted trafficking in persons before the judge.
After pleading guilty to her crimes, the accused faced her victims, including her niece, in a reconciliatory meeting facilitated by a social worker and a local church preacher.
The mother’s name was withheld to protect her daughter’s identity.
“I was hurt when you took pictures of me naked. I felt guilty because I got separated from you for what happened,” the child told her mother in the local dialect.
She then shared to her mother a verse from the Bible about God forgiving those who ask for forgiveness from people they have wronged.
“Forgive me for what I’ve done to you,” she told her daughter and niece, also in the local dialect. “I am ashamed of it. I hope you can forgive me, and we can be together again,” said the mother as she acknowledged the crime and expressed remorse.
Aside from the prison terms, the trafficker was also ordered to pay damages totaling P775,000.
The mother, who was arrested last year, was sentenced to an additional one month in prison after she pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.
Regional prosecutor Irwin Maraya, head of the Regional Anti-Trafficking Task Force in Eastern Visayas, said the plea-bargained conviction “is a product of the joint effort of government and private stakeholders.”
“This ‘one team’ approach is key to combating these depredations on the young and innocent,” he added.
