REFORM AGENDA

“Human Trafficking”
HISTORY:
Human trafficking is widely acknowledged to be a major social problem. It is generally
accepted that this is a global phenomenon; ‘no nation is exempt’, it is ‘a crime of such magnitude
and atrocity that it cannot be dealt with successfully by any government alone’. While sex
trafficking may seem to be a contemporary problem, the reality is that public concern about sex
trafficking is not new. Voluntary associations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries fought to
bring the issue to the fore, and set about creating local and international mechanisms for tackling
the problem at different levels.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE PHILIPPINES AND OVERSEAS; Exploitation of
Filipinos all around the world.
Human trafficking is a crime against humanity as identified in the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court (Articles 1 to 33)- Prevent Genocide International. Like in every
parts of the world are a rampant and pressing issue in the Philppines, often controlled by large
syndicates and protected by influential people in both politics and economy.
The Vatican in a report, stated that: “The Philippines has a serious
trafficking problem of women and children illegally recruited into the tourist
industry for sexual exploitation. Destinations within the country are Metro Manila,
Angeles City, Olongapo City, towns in Bulacan, Batangas, Cebu City, Davao and
Cagayan de Oro City and other sex tourist resorts such as Puerto Galera, which is
notorious, Pagsanjan, Laguna, San Fernando Pampanga, and many beach resorts
throughout the country. The promise of recruiters offers women and children
attractive jobs in the country or abroad, and instead they are coerced and forced
and controlled into the sex industry for tourists.”1
As defined under the Philippine Laws, it “refers to the recruitment, transportation,
transfer or harboring, or receipt of arsons with or without the victim’s consent or
knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat or use of force, or other
forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking
advantage of the vulnerability of the persons, or, the giving or receiving of payments or
benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the
purpose of exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution
of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude
or the removal or sale of organs.
The recruitment transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for the
purpose of exploitation shall also be considered as “trafficking in persons” even if it does
not involve any of the means set forth in the preceding paragraph.”
Sex trafficking of both adult and children are rampant in different parts of the
Philippines, with Puerto Galera, Angeles, Metro Manila, Olongapo, Subic Bay, Pampanga
an Davao as some of the places were the illegal activities takes place.
What’s worst is that the illegal activities of sex and human trafficking are spread
overseas, Filipina women and girls have been forced into prostitution and been physically
and psychologically abused not only here in the Philippines but also in other parts of the
world.

1
 Rev. Father Shay Cullen, MSSC, President of the PREDA Foundation, Philippines, People on the Move, N° 96
(Suppl.), December 2004. vatican.va Archived February 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
 Sex Tourism shows that most of the people who commit human trafficking are not
citizens of the Philippines but tourists who were enticed to visit the Philippines for the
hopes of satisfying their demonly desires while evading justice.
The advances of technology were also utilized by predators as a breeding ground
for easier facility of child prostitution, brides ordered by mail, debt bondage and other
ways to manipulate or lure both adult and children to engage in sexual acts to pacify the
wants of the predator. In 2008, the National Bureau of Investigation alerted the public over
the proliferating smuggling of human organs in the Philippines saying that the smugglers
are now targeting children who are kidnapped and taken abroad where their organs are sold
to foreign nationals. Sadly, the World Health Organization has identified the Philippines as
one of the five organ trafficking hotpots.
In the Philippines, poverty forces the countrymen to engage in different services
just to be able to get through the day, just to put food in their plates and feed their families,
some use their skills, some use their talents, some use what they have and some take
advantage of their ascendancy and the of the needs of others.
Here, it is unmistakable that the root of human trafficking is poverty and it may
impede the eradication of the acts of human trafficking not only in the Philippines but all
over the world, an impossible feat, but to try is already somewhat of a success.
In an effort to lessen the rampant and fast growing spread of human trafficking in
the Philippines, the Government along with different Non-Governmental Organizations
have joined forces in doing so.
However, since such business were run by large syndicates, the Government and
the Non-Governmental Organizations are having difficulties of controlling the activities
because most of those who engage in prostitution are voluntary, making it as their job, the
syndicate only acting as their connection to the people who wants to engage their services.
In November 2009 The Philippine government signed into law of Republic Act
9775, also known as the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, by Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This landmark legislation provides the full legal armor against
producers, transmitters, sellers and users of child pornography in whatever form and means
of production, dissemination and consumption, in public and private spaces.
In addition, in 2007, the government's Interagency Council Against Trafficking
established its first anti-trafficking task force at Manila's international airport to share
information on traffickers and assist victims. In 2006 the Philippine Overseas Employment
Agency (POEA) issued new employment requirements for overseas Filipino household
workers to protect them from widespread employer abuse and trafficking.
Different non-governmental organizations are continuously helping the government
in their efforts to lessen or better to prevent human trafficking and exploitation here in the
Philippines. In 2000, the United Nations launched the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons, which established a victim-centred approach to trafficking.
It has since been signed by 177 countries.
POLICIES ENFORCED TO CONTROL HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE
PHILIPPINES:
1. Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code, which states:

“Article 202. Prostitutes; Penalty. – For the purposes of this article, women who, for
money or profit, habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct, are
deemed to be prostitutes.
 Any person found guilty of any of the offenses covered by this article shall be
punished by arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, and in case of
recidivism, by arresto mayor in its medium period to prision correctional in its
minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, in the discretion
of the court.”

2. Article 341 of the Revised Penal Code, which states:

“White slave trade. – The penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum
periods shall be imposed upon any person who, in any manner, or under any pretext,
shall engage in the business or shall profit by prostitution or shall enlist the services of
any other for the purpose of prostitution.”

3. Republic Act 9208 - AN ACT TO INSTITUTE POLICIES TO ELIMINATE

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN,
ESTABLISHING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR
THE PROTECTION AND SUPPORT OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS,
PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR ITS VIOLATIONS, AND FOR OTHER.

“Section 2. Declaration of Policy. – It is hereby declared that the State values the
dignity of every human person and guarantees the respect of individual rights. In pursuit
of this policy, the State shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures and
development of programs that will promote human dignity, protect the people from any
threat of violence and exploitation, eliminate trafficking in persons, and mitigate
pressures for involuntary migration and servitude of persons, not only to support
trafficked persons but more importantly, to ensure their recovery, rehabilitation and
reintegration into the mainstream of society.

It shall be a State policy to recognize the equal rights and inherent human dignity of
women and men as enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human
Rights, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations Convention
on the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families. United Nations Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime Including its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and all other relevant and
universally accepted human rights instruments and other international conventions to
which the Philippines is a signatory.”

4. Republic Act 7610 – Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse,

Exploitation and Discrimination Act.

“Section 2. Declaration of State Policy and Principles. – It is hereby declared to be

the policy of the State to provide special protection to children from all firms of abuse,
neglect, cruelty exploitation and discrimination and other conditions, prejudicial their
development; provide sanctions for their commission and carry out a program for
prevention and deterrence of and crisis intervention in situations of child abuse,
exploitation and discrimination. The State shall intervene on behalf of the child when the
parent, guardian, teacher or person having care or custody of the child fails or is unable
to protect the child against abuse, exploitation and discrimination or when such acts
against the child are committed by the said parent, guardian, teacher or person having
care and custody of the same. 1awphi1@alf

It shall be the policy of the State to protect and rehabilitate children gravely threatened or
endangered by circumstances which affect or will affect their survival and normal
development and over which they have no control.

The best interests of children shall be the paramount consideration in all actions
concerning them, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions,
courts of law, administrative authorities, and legislative bodies, consistent with the
principle of First Call for Children as enunciated in the United Nations Convention of the
Rights of the Child. Every effort shall be exerted to promote the welfare of children and
enhance their opportunities for a useful and happy life.”
 5. Republic Act 6955 – Mail-order brides.
- RA 6955 basically declares as unlawful "the practice of matching Filipino
women for marriage to foreign nationals on a mail order basis.

6. Republic Act 8042 - An Act to Institute the Policies of Overseas Employment

and Establish a Higher Standard of Protection and Promotion of The Welfare
of Migrant Workers, Their Families and Overseas Filipinos in Distress, and for
Other Purposes.

- The act contains provisions which regulate the recruitment of overseas

workers; mandate establishment of a mechanism for free legal assistance for
victims of illegal recruitment; direct all embassies and consular offices to
issue travel advisories or disseminate information on labor and employment
conditions, migration realities and other facts; regulate repatriation of
workers in ordinary cases and provide a mechanism for repatriation in
extraordinary cases; mandate establishment of a Migrant Workers and Other
Overseas Filipinos Resource Center to provide social services to returning
worker and other migrants; mandate the establishment of a Migrant
Workers Loan Guarantee Fund to provide pre-departure and family
assistance loans; establishes a legal assistance fund for migrant workers;
and other provisions related to Filipino migrant workers. The act, approved
on June 7, 1995, mandates that pursuant to the objectives of deregulation
the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) shall, within a period of
five (5) years, phase-out the regulatory functions of the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration.

7. Crimes against humanity:

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has designated human Trafficking as a
crime against humanity. In 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established
in The Hague (Netherlands) and the Rome Statute provides for the ICC to have
jurisdiction over crimes against humanity. For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against
humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or
systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
(a) Murder;
(b) Extermination;
(c) Enslavement;
(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of
fundamental rules of international law;
(f) Torture;
(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced
sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on
political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in
paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as
impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to
in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(i) Enforced disappearance of persons;
(j) The crime of apartheid;
(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great
suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.
EVALUATION:
 As mentioned above, there are already numerous laws being enforced in the
Philippines to prosecute the acts of human trafficking. However, just like in every law
being enforced in the Philippines, the effectiveness of such is not achieved as there are
different factors affecting the same. Some being, poverty and corruption.

Although the government increased its law enforcement efforts. In 2003 and
2012, anti-trafficking acts criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed
penalties of up to 20 years’ imprisonment and fines of between 1 and 2 million pesos.
These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking,
commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. These
actions led to the arrest of 689 suspects, an increase from 283 in 2017. A statistic
revealed that, the government convicted 77 traffickers (65 traffickers in 2017), including
three for labor trafficking and 27 for sex trafficking children online.

The government increased the Philippine National Police (PNP) Women and
Children’s Protection Center budget in 2018; however, government agencies continued
to report inadequate resources for anti-trafficking investigations and prosecutions. With
donor support, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Anti Human Trafficking
Division developed standard operating procedures for trafficking investigations,
including victim care, and set up a specially equipped room for child forensic interviews.
The PNP and NBI increased their capacity to investigate online sexual exploitation of
children by partnering with foreign law enforcement agencies and an NGO to establish
the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center. As more cases involving online
sexual exploitation of children reached the courts, these cases continued to present
challenges, including difficulty in obtaining timely search warrants and inadequate
resources for operational logistics, analysis and investigation of cybercrime leads,
computer evidence forensic analysis, and courtroom equipment for presentation of
videotaped evidence and testimony. Endemic judicial inefficiencies, the nationwide
shortage of prosecutors, the reduction in number of prosecutors assigned to anti-
trafficking task forces, and the assignment of task force-designated prosecutors to other
cases contributed to case congestion and delays. Countering these challenges,
prosecutors increased the use of plea bargaining for cases of online sexual exploitation
of children and increased the use of recorded victim interviews at the inquest stage,
which reduced the potential for re-traumatization of child victims who served as
witnesses and significantly decreased the time to case resolution. With donor support,
the Interagency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) began implementation of a case
management system for prosecutors working with 16 anti-trafficking task forces to
facilitate monitoring of prosecutions.

The government sustained its efforts to provide anti-trafficking training to its

officials by supporting the provision of basic and advanced skills training through 136
programs that included a focus on the investigation and prosecution of cases involving
forced labor, child soldiers, child victims of online sexual exploitation, as well as the
provision of trauma-informed care in residential facilities. The IACAT-Department of
Justice (DOJ) and regional anti-trafficking task forces conducted 19 anti-trafficking
training programs, while other IACAT member agencies and partners organized 117
anti-trafficking training programs, reaching 6,593 participants from government
agencies, NGOs, and the private sector, compared to 6,400 the previous year. IACAT
member agencies also provided in-kind support for numerous donor-funded anti-
trafficking training programs for local, regional, and national government officials,
including law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and social service personnel. Philippine
officials continued to cooperate with other governments on the investigation and
prosecution of trafficking cases and conducted an international exercise for ASEAN law
enforcement and prosecutors to enhance the capacity of ASEAN member states to
conduct joint international anti-trafficking investigations. Despite continued reports of
corruption at all levels of government and the government’s reported concerns about
the involvement of Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers and employees in immigration act
violations, such as allowing the illegal departure of minors for overseas work, the
government did not convict any officials for complicity in trafficking. Additionally, the
government did not provide updated information on complicity cases initiated in prior
years, including the investigation of two BI employees for trafficking a female victim in
the Middle East, the investigation of two police officers and Department of Foreign
Affairs (DFA) officials, and administrative cases against four immigration officers.

References:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_the_Philippines#Revised_Pen
al_Code_Article_202

2. https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report-
2/philippines__trashed/