MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the life imprisonment sentence on South Korean pastor Si Young Oh, (a.k.a. Steve Oh) for qualified trafficking of minors.
The SC Third Division found Si Young Oh guilty under Republic Act No. (RA) 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.
The ruling also modified the fines and damages imposed on the accused to PhP 2.6 million from PhP 2.2 million.
Si Young Oh, affiliated with the Korean Christian Presbyterian General Assembly based in Seoul, moved to the Philippines in 2008.
He became the head of a theology school in Pampanga province, but later admitted to operating it without the necessary government permits.
Based on records, Si Young Oh recruited three minors, all aged 17, to study theology and become pastors or missionaries, free of charge.
However, he took advantage of them 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 minors and the arrest of Si Young Oh.
In his defense, the pastor argued that the minors did the construction work voluntarily as part of their religious training.
The Regional Trial Court of Angeles City, Pampanga convicted Si Young Oh of qualified trafficking in 2017, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeals in 2021.
In dismissing his appeal, the Supreme Court found that all the elements of trafficking under RA 9208 were clearly met.
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.
The Court found that the prosecution proved that Si Young Oh, personally or through an assistant, recruited and transported the minors 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.
The Court explained that even if the minors were 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. (PNA)