THE Department of Justice is filing a case for sex trafficking against Gawad Kalinga (GK) founder Antonio “Tony” Meloto after finding prima facie evidence in the complaint filed by two GK scholars who alleged that they were abused at a GK Farm in Angat, Bulacan and during an event in Lyon, France, in 2017.
The 16-page resolution dated September 10 recommended that Meloto be charged with two counts of violations of Republic Act 10364 or the Expanded Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012.
“The sex trafficking is qualified by Section 6 (d), which provides that “when the offender is a spouse, an ascendant, parent, sibling, guardian, or a person who exercises authority over the trafficked person, or when the offense is committed by a public officer or employee.
“Respondent Meloto held a position of authority over the complainants, being at the time the founder of Gawad Kalinga and the leader of the School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED), where both complainants are scholars,” said part of the resolution that Deputy State Prosecutor Olivia Laroza-Torrevillas signed.
The resolution held that Meloto’s behavior was not an isolated act of sexual misconduct or lascivious act but rather a “structured system of sexual exploitation facilitated by organizational hierarchy and deception.”
As GK founder, it said that Meloto took advantage of the vulnerability of the complainants who joined SEED to get scholarships and be able to bail their families out of poverty.
It added that Meloto also used “psychological coercion to be able to control the victims.”
The complaints for sexual harassment and acts of lasciviousness are, according to the resolution, “already absorbed as sexual exploitation which should not be treated separately from sex trafficking.”
The complainants accused Meloto of sexually abusing them in the SEED farm in Angat in 2017.
One of the complainants also claimed he was abused when he accompanied Meloto to a speaking engagement in Lyon, France.
Meloto left GK in 2018 after the organization’s board conducted an internal probe into the allegations.
Meloto denied the accusations and said the cases lodged against him were nothing but harassment suits.
He also asked the DOJ in his counter-affidavit to dismiss the complaints.
