Photo by Mitch Mauricio
Human trafficking is an organized, international crime.
It happens when a recruiter illegally employs people, transfers them to another place where the “trafficked” people will actually be signed up to do
forced labor, become prostitutes or slaves, or have their organs removed and sold.
The
Anti-trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 or Republic Act 9208 formally defines trafficking as “the recruitment, transfer or harboring of persons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat or abduction, for the purpose of exploitation.”
Under RA 9208, the scenarios that would constitute as exploitation include: forced labor and slavery, prostitution, sexual exploitation, sex tourism and debt bondage.
Philippine standing
The 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report estimated the number of trafficking victims in the
Philippines to be between 20,000 to 100,000. The large disparity may be attributed to the fact that there are no official records on the number of persons trafficked.
In 2007, the US Department of State gave Philippines a Tier 2 standing. As a Tier 2 country, the Philippine government is recognized as making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards of the international treaty
Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
However, according to the Trafficking in Persons report of 2009, the US Department of State demoted the Philippines to Tier 2
Watch List.
Being on the Tier 2
Watch List means that the number of victims increased significantly and that there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat this crime such as investigations, assistance to victims and convictions of known traffickers.
“The government did not show evidence of progress in convicting trafficking offenders, particularly those responsible for labor trafficking,” stated the report.
In 2009, 6 years after the passage of RA 9208, there have been only 11 convictions.
Women and girls most vulnerable
Filipinas, sometimes as young as 11, are usually trafficked abroad for commercial sexual exploitation are sent primarily to
Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, countries in Africa, the Middle East and Western Europe.
The
human trafficking chain has become so complex that it not only involves the exportation of individuals
from the Philippines, but also their importation
into the Philippines.
There have been accounts of women trafficked from China, Russia, South Korea, and Eastern Europe to the Philippines for commercial sexual exploitation.
The Philippines, because of its strategic location, is also now being used as a “hub” or a port of international crime syndicates. Trafficked persons from mainland China are transported through the Philippines to third country destinations.
Photo by Mitch Mauricio
Foundation Inc. (VFF)is a
non-government organization who cares for victims by providing them shelter where the survivors could stay and wait until they are ready to go back home.
Kip Oebanda, an official at VFF says, “Women and children are also trafficked within the country. They are usually from “poor farming communities in the Visayas and Mindanao” who are sent to urban areas such as Manila, Cebu City and some cities in Mindanao. These people are then used for commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor as domestic servants or factory workers.
During their stay in the VFF shelter, the victims learn information technology skills and life skills.
Those who want to go home right away are given tickets by VFF’s partners in those places. There are also others who want to press charges against their employers, said Oebanda.
Though trafficking may seem like a distant reality, Oebanda said that it can happen right under our noses. “Some people are recruited even in schools,” he said, stressing that teachers or elders in the communities are the usual head-hunters.
“It’s usually people you trust,” Oebanda said. “Sometimes they delude themselves that they are helping, but more often than not, they are part of a larger syndicate.”
Some are fortunate enough to survive. These are the ones who escape from their employers or are intercepted while in transit.
Need for more opportunities
Oebanda noted that having more opportunities for people in their own provinces will lessen the temptation for those desperate to explore possibilities abroad or in urbanized cities; a desperation that makes them precisely vulnerable to trafficking.
VFF set up 13 community technology learning centers (CTLCs) in Manila, Cebu, Daet, Bacolod, Dumaguete and Davao for a project called
Stop Trafficking and Exploitation of People through Unlimited Potential or STEP-UP. With the program, people are taught computer skills and are later given Microsoft diplomas that they can use to get employment or continue their education.
Oebanda said that “It’s not bad to migrate, as long as it’s safe migration.”
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