Manila: Vice President Jejomar Binay promised more measures and stronger law enforcement to protect Filipinos from human trafficking in the wake of a critical report.
“We will continue to strive to retain [Tier 2], if not upgrade our GTIP [Global Trafficking in Persons] status and keep our people protected from human trafficking,” said Binay, chair of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), who added that this should pave the way for the upgrading of the Philippines from the Tier 2 rating of the United States on human trafficking practices worldwide.
A 2013 report released by US Secretary of State John Kerry on June 19 blamed a weak judiciary, corrupt law enforcement officers and sexually licentious Filipino diplomats for promoting human trafficking.
“Despite making significant efforts to combat trafficking, the government of the Philippines does not yet fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” said the report, which noted low convictions of human trafficking-related cases, from 29 to 24. “It [the Philippines] enacted amendments to its anti trafficking legislation that could facilitate prosecution of a wider range of cases, but the excessive length of trials and lack of public prosecutors dedicated to trafficking cases continue to limit progress.”
The report also complained about the prevalence of child sex tourism in the Philippines, adding that the government has no programmes “aimed at reducing the demand for commercial sex acts, including child sex tourism.”
Child trafficking in cyber pornography has become a very “serious problem” in the Philippines, the report said.
Explaining why the number of people arrested for human trafficking is small compared to the growing number of victims of human trafficking, the report said that law enforcing agencies allow trafficking offenders to conduct illegal activities, allow traffickers to escape during raids, extort bribes, aid illegal overseas workers and accept payments of sexual services from establishments known to traffic women and children.
The report also mentioned the involvement of a Philippine ambassador who was accused of sexual exploitation of a domestic helper.
As a result, the Philippines has remained “both a source country and, to a lesser extent, a destination and transit country for sex trafficking and forced labour,” said the report.
IACAT received $1.2 million (Dh4.41 million) funding from the US State department in 2012. IACAT, a frontline body that combats human trafficking, has continued efforts to implement anti-trafficking laws and policies at the national, regional and provincial levels, said the report.
The US department would sanction aid to the Philippines had the country’s GTIP status been downgraded to Tier 3.
In 2011, the US State department upgraded the Philippines to Tier 2 after the convictions of individuals involved in human trafficking.
