The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the life imprisonment imposed by both the trial court and the Court of Appeals (CA) on a South Korean pastor for qualified human trafficking. 

In a decision made public on Oct. 21, affirmed was the conviction of Si Young Oh, alias “Steve Oh,” a pastor affiliated with the Korean Christian Presbyterian General Assembly based in Seoul. 

Si’s appeal was denied by the SC in a decision written by Associate Justice Samuel H. Gaerlan.

Si moved to the Philippines in 2008 and headed a theology school in Pampanga.  He admitted that he operated the school without government permits. 

A summary of the decision released by the SC’s Public Information Office (SC-PIO) stated that Si recruited three minors – denominated in the decision as “AAA,” “BBB,” and “CCC”-- to study theology and become pastors or missionaries, free of charge. 

The summary stated that Si took advantage of the three minors by forcing them to perform hard labor on church construction projects for little to no compensation.

On April 15, 2013, a joint operation by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Bureau of Investigation led to the rescue of the minors and the arrest of Si.

The South Korean was charged with qualified trafficking in persons under Republic Act No. (RA) 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

In his defense, Si argued that the minors did the construction work voluntarily as part of their religious training.

The Angeles City regional trial court (RTC) convicted Si. The trial court’s decision was upheld by the CA in 2021.

In affirming the conviction, the SC ruled that all the elements of trafficking under RA 9208 were clearly met.

The SC-PIO said “the Court highlighted that trafficking occurs when individuals are recruited, transported, or transferred – regardless of consent or knowledge – under threats, coercion, deception, or abuse of power, for exploitative purposes such as prostitution, forced labor, slavery, or removal or sale of organs.”

“The crime is classified as qualified trafficking, which carries a life sentence, when involving minors or three or more victims,” it said quoting from the decision.

It also said: “The Court found that the prosecution proved that Si Young Oh, personally or through an assistant, recruited and transported AAA, BBB, and CCC to become students in his church in Pampanga. He did this with fraud and deception, taking advantage of the minors’ vulnerability and exploiting their religious beliefs. Finally, instead of offering them theology classes as he promised, he forced them to do manual labor, practically for free.”   

It added: “The Court stressed that even if AAA, BBB, and CCC may have been driven by their religious convictions to agree to do construction work, a minor’s consent, even without the use of coercive or deceptive means, is not given out of their own free will.”

The dispositive portion of the SC decision: 

“Accused-appellant Si Young Oh a.k.a. "Steve Oh" is found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Qualified Trafficking in Persons as defined and penalized under Section 4(a) in relation to Section 6(a) and (c) of Republic Act No. 9208, otherwise known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, and is sentenced to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment and to pay a fine in the amount of P2 million. He is also ordered to pay each of the victims AAA, BBB, and CCC the amounts of P500,000 as moral damages and P100,000 as exemplary damages.

“All damages due AAA, BBB, and CCC shall earn legal interest at the rate of six percent per annum from the date of the finality of this Decision until their full satisfaction. So ordered.”