The Pasay City regional trial court (RTC) has denied the petition of two individuals recently arrested for charges of qualified trafficking in persons and syndicated illegal recruitment.
In the court’s four-page resolution, Pasay City RTC Branch 112 Judge Geoffrey Llarena dismissed the motion of the accused, identified as Jagmohan Singh Tamber and Jayson Panginen Andasan, to post bail for the syndicated illegal recruitment case.
But the RTC granted them to post bail amounting to P250,000 on the charge of qualified trafficking in persons.
‘At this juncture, and without prejudging the merits of the case, the evidence presented thus far supports a strong inference of guilt in Criminal Case No. R-PSY-25-01254-CR (Syndicated Illegal Recruitment) but not in Criminal Case No. R-PSY-25-01253-CR (Qualified Trafficking in Persons),’ the resolution read.
The court’s decision stemmed from the charges filed by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) Mary Joy Lozada and Cristine Ocampo.
Lozaga and Ocampo alleged in their complaints that Tamber and Andasan, along with four others, conspired to offer them employment as domestic helpers or workers in Hong Kong ‘by means of fraud, deception, threat, or other forms of coercion, and by taking advantage of their vulnerability, for the purpose of subjecting them to prostitution and sexual exploitation.’
The four individuals also charged for qualified trafficking in persons and syndicated illegal recruitment were Marie Antonette Lumanlan Ng, John Paul Aguilar Sia, Ma. Teresa Clavaton and Shagopta Bashir Punzalan.
Of the six accused, only Tamber and Andesan have been arrested and placed under the jurisdiction of the Pasay RTC to date, while the four others remain at large.
The penalty for charges against the accused is life imprisonment.