A MANAGER of a high-end strip club in Mandaue City will spend her life in jail after she was found guilty by a court for selling minors as prostitutes.

Convicted on July 3 by Judge Raphael Yrastorza of Mandaue City Regional Trial Court branch 28 was Nicole Cabillan, manager of Club Harem Bar and Restaurant. She was also ordered to pay a fine of P5 million for violating the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

Cabillan was charged with another suspect who died while the case was on trial, according to a statement by the Department of Justice on Thursday.

The department said two of the four victims were minors. One of them testified that she was sold to customers for sex at the age of 14.

Separately, the US-based International Justice Mission said Wednesday police rescued the victims from the bar in December 2010.

"Several police officers testified during the trial, but the conviction was precedent-setting because it was delivered without victim testimony. The judge did cite statements that had been recorded in notebooks found at the bar, where girls had written out prayers to God asking to be saved from their situation," said IJM, one of the non-government organizations representing the children's sector in the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT)

Cabillan's conviction was the first in Mandaue City and 108th nationwide since the establishment of IACAT in 2005.

"Every conviction of a trafficker demonstrates that these crimes are no longer tolerable in the Philippines. The days of impunity have ended. We are seeing a wave of momentum," said IJM national director Andrey Sawchenco.

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recently rescued three minors and arrested a couple for child internet pornography in Cebu. The suspects were already charged before Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2013/07/11/strip-club-manager-mandaue-convicted-human-trafficking-291957