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MetroVanIndependent.com
August 2015
News
Philippines as top source country
Migrante claims illegal recruitment and human trafficking widespread
(Migrante International, the biggest organization of Filipino groups all over the world, described the state of the Filipino migrants in its
Summing Up document released on time for the SONA of Philippine President Aquino and for the global observance of the World Day
against Trafficking in Persons this July 30.
The Philippines remains as one of the
top source countries for human trafficking
in different parts of the world. Filipinos,
mostly women and children, are being
trafficked for labor and/or sexual trade
to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar,
Bahrain, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Japan, South Africa, North America and
Europe.
The Aquino government conservatively
estimates the number of Filipino victims of
trafficking from 300,000 to 400,000, with
the number of children victims ranging from
60,000 to 100,000. Many of them migrate
to work through legal and illegal means
but are later coerced into exploitative
conditions, drug trade or white slavery.
The situation has become so alarming
that the US government, for non-altruistic
reasons, had warned the Philippine
government to get its act together lest it
remains under Tier 2 of the US Department
of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report.
In 2012, the Aquino regime pursued
cosmetic reforms, among them signing
the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons
Act, which upgraded the Philippines
to Tier 1, meaning that the country has
complied with the minimum standards for
the elimination of trafficking.
The amended Anti-Trafficking in
Persons Act, otherwise known as Republic
Act 10364, defines “trafficking of persons”
as the “the recruitment, obtaining, hiring,
Rolex de la Pena Migrante called for intensified government efforts against human trafficking and
employer abuse of overseas Filipino workers.
providing, of fering, transpor tation,
transfer, maintaining, harboring, or receipt
of persons 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 person, 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.”
This definition of “ traf ficking in
persons” sets a very thin line between
human trafficking and illegal recruitment,
especially for our OFWs.
Government ef for ts have hardly
scratched the surface of the anti-trafficking
campaign, however, much as it lauds
itself in media. For one, it only has 17 antitrafficking prosecutors in the Department
of Justice and 72 prosecutors in regional
DOJ offices.
And though it has set up the InterAgency Council against Trafficking in
Persons (IACAT), it has only received and
persecuted a handful of human trafficking
for investigation since 2010.
Compare this, for example, with
an average of 1,500 cases, involving
thousands of individuals, yearly that
Migrante International receives, majority
of which are related to human and sex
trafficking, illegal recruitment and drugrelated cases.
The ratio of resolution of cases of
human trafficking/illegal recruitment in
agencies such as the IACAT or POEA are
close to nil, with most of perpetrators or
recruitment agencies being given mere
administrative sanctions and are able to
operate again.
Many victims, with the help of Migrante
International and other concerned
organizations, have filed charges of
violations of RA 10364. Unfortunately, the
government lacks the political will to fully
address the cases.
There are also reports of immigration
and police officers who are coddlers of
trafficking syndicates but, so far, no public
or government official at any level has been
prosecuted.
Source: migranteinternational.org
ASEAN, China discuss
'hotline' for sea dispute
A hotline is proposed to deal with emergencies in the South China
Sea, a body of water claimed by several ASEAN countries and China
MANILA, Philippines – ASEAN and China
are discussing setting up a "hotline" in case
of an emergency regarding the territorial
dispute over the South China Sea, a
Philippine official said on Sunday, August 2.
The proposed hotline was discussed
during a meeting of senior diplomats from
China and ASEAN, the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, in Tianjin last
week, said foreign department spokesman
Charles Jose.
Jose, whose country is one of the most
vocal in the simmering dispute over the
flashpoint waters, said the matter had been
referred back to a joint working group and
was still far from fruition.
"Although this was agreed in principle
as an early harvest measure, it needs
thorough discussion," he said in a
statement to Agence France-Presse.
He stressed the hotline would not be
unveiled at an upcoming meeting of ASEAN
foreign ministers.
The Philippines and fellow ASEAN
members Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam
have competing claims over the South
China Sea along with China and Taiwan.
The dispute has grown increasingly
tense in recent years with the Philippines
at the forefront of accusing China of
"bullying" in asserting its claim over the
"Although this was agreed in
principle as an early harvest
measure, it needs thorough discussion." - Charles Jose, Foreign
Department Spokesman
waters which are a crucial sea lane and
fishing ground also believed to hold vast
mineral resour 6W2ख