PRESS RELEASE: Human trafficker convicted and sentenced to life in prison

PRESS RELEASE

Human trafficker convicted and sentenced to life in prison
21 November 2022
by: Francis B. Bermido Jr.

Life behind bars is the penalty handed down by the Regional Trial Court Branch 61 in Angeles City, Pampanga for a human trafficker, Allyana Ysabel Fernandez known as “Quenn”. She recruited and lured eleven young girls, the youngest only 15 years of age), to the Golden Victory Hotel in Mabiga, Mabalacat, Pampanga on 4 March 2019 to sell them for sex to customers. She was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt by Judge April Joy B. Magsayo-Aguila according to the court decision issued on 17 November 2022.

When in the hotel, the young teenagers were shocked when several male “customers” came into the room and selected two of the girls each and asked the trafficker, “girls first or the payment”? The trafficker said “Pay first.” One man handed a wad of money to the trafficker and after she accepted it in her hand, she was immediately arrested and handcuffed on the spot. Some of the teenagers burst into tears when they realized that the “customers” were in fact police.

The undercover agents of the Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC) of the Luzon Field Unit based in Camp Crame had just concluded a brilliantly successful entrapment operation and arrested the notorious human trafficker Allyana Ysabel Fernandez known as “Quenn.” Now, she has been found guilty by Judge April Joy B. Magsayo-Aguila and sentenced to life in prison.

When Fernandez was arrested, the victims were taken into another room in the hotel where social workers of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) were waiting to assist them and calm them down and explain that they were not being arrested but were being rescued and helped. Later, they were all taken to police headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City, Metro Manila where their personal details were taken and Allyana Ysabel Fernandez was detained.

Some days later, the rescued minor-victims were referred by the government social workers to the Preda Foundation home for abused and exploited children in Subic, well known for protecting and healing traumatized, exploited and abused minors. There, they were welcomed and affirmed and given full emotional support. Their needs were met and they began to recover from the shock and trauma of being victim/survivors and witnesses in a major anti-trafficking court case. Preda provided all care and accommodation at its own expense as government funding was not available.

With the help of Preda Emotional Release Therapy and value formation, the minors were more enlightened and empowered and set on a path to a new life of education and dignity. According to the 41-page court document, two minors were called to testify in court and under cross examination they said they freely stayed at Preda and were not forced by Preda staff to testify.

In her 41-page decision promulgated on November 17, 2022 Judge April Joy B.Magsayo-Aguila said that Allyana Ysabel Fernandez known as “Quenn” was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of qualified trafficking in persons under Republic Act 9208 as amended by Republic Act 10364 and was sentenced to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment. The court also ordered her to pay a fine of two million pesos to two of the victims and an additional 500,000 pesos each as moral damages and an additional 100,000 pesos in exemplary damages. Qualified trafficking in persons is when there are three or more victims trafficked.

The victim/survivors, after their life in the Preda home for trafficked victims, have all been reintegrated in their families and are living a more normal, happier life of dignity.

End