By NITZ ARANCON
and LITO RULONA
Correspondents .
THE Department of Justice, through prosecutors here, are seeking the transfer of 10 more cases against convicted pedophile Peter Gerard Scully from Bukidnon and Surigao to this city.
They asked the Supreme Court to order the transfer of the 10 cases — eight in Bukidnon and two in Surigao — to this city where the Australian would stand trial for 50 more sexual perversion- and pedophiliaelated offenses.
On Wednesday, the 54-year old Scully was found guilty of human trafficking along with his former partner Carme Ann Alvarez and sentenced to life imprisonment by regional Judge Jose Escobido. Scully was also slapped with additional imprisonment sentences of about 45 years for five counts of rape.
Despite his conviction, Scully can’t be sent to the Davao Penal Colony yet because he would still be tried for other criminal offenses committed against children here. Most of the cases were filed in Cagayan de Oro, said Merlynn Uy, state prosecutor for northern Mindanao.
She said the petition for the transfer of the cases from Bukidnon and Surigao City was already filed with the SC.
Uy said the 60 cases — 50 in Cagayan de Oro, eight in Bukidnon and two in Surigao — include kidnapping, human trafficking, voyeurism, rape by sexual assault, child abuse and murder.
“We are waiting for the decision of the Supreme Court,” told a news conference.
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development officials in the region said they felt “triumphant” over the the guilty verdict against Scully after three years of legal battle.
DSWD regional director Nestor Ramos told a news conference: “It gave us relief, and it’s a victory for all, especially for the families of the victims and the children themselves. Although it has taken this much time, the conviction has given us a sense of justice that compensated the efforts of many people who care for the welfare of these children.”
Ramos said Scully’s “evil acts” made children live in “unspeakable horror, with their childhood stripped away, and nightmares they still live with up to this day. The conviction can somehow bring them peace and continual healing and will slowly bring back the family into normalcy.”
But Ramos said the fight is far from over, pointing out that Scully and his accomplices need to feel remorse “for every count of offense.”
He said the Scully case should serve as a lesson to other child offenders.
The DSWD, he said, was involved in helping the traumatized children in the past three years, and it has become something personal to social workers and DSWD officials who felt the children’s pain.
“This conviction a new chapter in the long-term recovery and healing of the girls,” Ramos said.
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