MANILA, Philippines - A member of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and a barangay chairman in San Miguel, Manila were meted life sentences for sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl at the Palace grounds in 2011.

Army Staff Sergeant Walter Candelaria and Barangay 637 Zone 65 chairman Angel Murillo were also ordered to pay a fine of P2 million each.

In a 40-page decision dated Nov. 20, Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 5 Judge Emily San Gaspar-Gito found Candelaria and Murillo guilty of qualified trafficking in persons (Republic Act 9208).

Candelaria was also found guilty of violating Republic Act 7610, the anti-child abuse law.

Aside from the P2-million fine, the judge also ordered the two men to jointly pay the girl P500,000 as moral damages and another P100,000 as exemplary damages.

Gito also told Candelaria to pay the girl P30,000 as civil indemnity, P30,000 as moral damages and P30,000 as exemplary damages.

The judge said that with the Philippines as a signatory to the United Nations convention on the rights of the child and the UN protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, the court has to ensure that the laws enacted based on these international agreements are given their full effect.

“This is the only way to deter the proliferation of trafficking in all its forms,” Gito said.

Peddled

The girl told the court that just before midnight on June 20, 2011, she and a friend were in front of the barangay hall on J.P. Laurel street when a car stopped near them and Murillo got out of the vehicle.

She said she had known Murillo since she was a child. She said he called her and introduced her to his friends in the car – the driver was “chairman Floro” and the passenger was “Sarge Cande.”

The girl said Murillo pushed her into the car, which sped away.

She said Candelaria brought her to the Malacañang clinic, where he sexually abused her until she elbowed him and told him to back off.

Candelaria, the girl said, told her that his agreement with Murillo was that he would have 15 minutes to have sex with her. She threatened to tell her father.

Candelaria returned her to the barangay hall. The girl said she sat by a lamppost and started crying just as one of her godmothers passed by.

The girl said her godmother brought her to the police station’s women’s and children’s protection desk, where she narrated her ordeal.

She said a barangay councilor and a military official arrived at the police station and offered her P200,000 to drop the case.