Supreme Court affirms pastor’s life sentence for trafficking of minors

The Supreme Court upholds the life imprisonment sentence of a South Korean pastor who exploited three minors through forced labor. In a decision penned by Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, the SC Third Division found Si Young Oh, also known as “Steve Oh,” guilty of violating Republic Act No. 9208, also known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. | PHOTO: National Privacy Commision website / privacy.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court upheld the life imprisonment sentence of a South Korean pastor who exploited three minors through forced labor.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, the Supreme Court Third Division found Si Young Oh, also known as “Steve Oh,” guilty of violating Republic Act No. 9208, also known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

“Si Young Oh, a pastor affiliated with the Korean Christian Presbyterian General Assembly based in Seoul, South Korea, moved to the Philippines in 2008.” states the decision, according to the Supreme Court statement released Monday. “He became the head of a theology school in Pampanga, but later admitted to operating the school without the necessary government permits.”

The case stemmed from Oh’s recruitment of three 17-year-olds, who were promised free theology education and training to become pastors or missionaries but were forced to perform “hard labor on church construction projects for little to no compensation.”

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In 2013, a joint operation by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and National Bureau of Investigation rescued the minors and arrested the South Korean.

Oh defended himself by claiming that that the minors volunteered to do construction work as part of their religious training.

However, the Regional Trial Court of Angeles City convicted him of qualified trafficking in 2017, which the Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed in 2021.

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Oh appealed the CA ruling before the Supreme Court, which eventually decided to reject it, stressing that all elements of trafficking under RA 9208 are present in his case.

The high court explained 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 forced labor.

It even emphasized that although the minors may have agreed to perform construction work due to their religious beliefs, “a minor’s consent, even without the use of coercive or deceptive means, is not given out of their own free will.”

Since the crime was classified as qualified trafficking because of the involvement of minors and multiple victims, the law provides a life sentence for such violation.

Aside from a life sentence, Oh was also fined P2 million and ordered to pay P1.8 million in damages to the victims. — Stefani Tacugue, trainee