High court upholds child pornographer’s conviction

THE Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction of a child pornographer and sentenced her to imprisonment and a fine of P2 million.

In a ruling penned by Associate Justice Mario Lopez, the Supreme Court en banc denied the appeal of Luisa Pineda who was convicted by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) and the Court of Appeals (CA) for child pornography qualified with the use of a computer system.

Acting on a tip from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division conducted a surveillance of Pineda’s house.

Armed with a search warrant, police officers, accompanied by barangay officials, proceeded to her house where they found, among others, a computer set and cellphone with nude photos and videos of Pineda’s six-yearold niece.

The police also found three minors in the house and turned them over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

One of the minors said Pineda took custody of her after her parents separated. She said Pineda ordered her to enter a room, remove her clothes, and stand naked in front of a computer monitor with a webcam where her private parts were exposed to an aging adult male.

On two other occasions, Pineda took pictures and videos of the minor and made her touch her genitalia in front of a computer screen.

Pineda was charged with violation of Republic Act (RA) 9775 or the “Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009,” in relation to RA 10175 or the “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.”

In resolving Pineda’s appeal, the high court cited the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse of Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) Act.

The law was passed by Congress during the pendency of the case, expressly repealed RA 9775 and Section 4(c)(1) of RA 10175.

The high tribunal discussed the legal consequences of the repeal on the criminal liability of Pineda.

It said that generally, the absolute repeal of a penal law deprives the courts the authority to punish an accused charged with a violation of the old law prior to its repeal. Under such absolute repeal, the offense no longer exists as if the person who committed it never did so.

An exception is where the repealing law reenacts the former statute and punishes the act previously penalized under the old law. Under this exception, the act committed before the reenactment continues to be an offense and pending cases are not affected, regardless of whether the new penalty to be imposed is more favorable to the accused.

In the case of Pineda, the crime charged was committed in August 2016, when the prevailing law was RA 9775. The subsequent law, RA 111930 enacted on July 30, 2022, repealed RA 9775, but at the same time reenacted the unlawful acts defined as child pornography.

Thus, even without a saving clause, the reenactment in RA 11930 of prohibited acts considered as child pornography manifests the legislative intent to reserve the right of the State to prosecute and punish offenses in the repealed RA 9775, the Supreme Court ruled.

The courts retain the jurisdiction to decide pending criminal cases involving violations of RA 9775 committed prior to its repeal, including the Pineda’s case.

The court also found all the elements of child pornography under RA 9775 present in Pineda’s case.