Government intensifies drive vs trafficking

MANILA, Philippines - The government is now engaged in an intensified anti-human trafficking drive as it strives to further improve the country’s ranking in the US State Department’s Global Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, Vice President Jejomar Binay said yesterday.

Binay said the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) is now aiming to land the Philippines in the Tier 1 status by next year.

The Philippines was upgraded to Tier 2 status in the US State Department’s 2011 TIP Report, from the previous Tier 2 watch list standing in the past two years.

The TIP report ranks countries in tiers based on their compliance to the minimum standards of the United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).

Countries in Tier 1 status are those whose governments fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, while those in Tier 2 are countries that do not fully comply with the minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to do so.

Binay said that the upgrade of the Philippines’ ranking in the TIP report was “the result of a concerted effort,” citing major accomplishments of the member agencies of the IACAT.

“This year the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) cancelled the licenses of ZDrive and Adman, two licensed recruitment agencies involved in human trafficking in the US,” said Binay, also the chairman emeritus of the IACAT and head of the Presidential Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (PTFAIR).

He said the agencies promised jobs as hotel workers in a country club in Florida to several applicants who shelled out P300,000 as placement fee.

He added that the POEA has also cancelled the license of PARS International Placement Agency, after teachers of five school districts in Louisiana complained of excessive placement fees and that they were “forced by their recruiter into borrowing from a single lending agency under onerous interest rates.”

Binay also announced that a nationwide and global hotline dedicated to reporting human trafficking is now in place.

“We put up not just a nationwide but also a global action line: 1343 to fight human trafficking. By calling up 1343, Filipinos from all over the world can provide information about the exploitation of our workers, and seek help as well,” he said.

He said Congress has allocated P50 million to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the two main members of the IACAT, for the fight against human trafficking.

The Vice President also noted the accomplishments of Zamboanga City Assistant Prosecutor Darlene Pajarito, who won the Global Trafficking in Persons’ Hero Award for securing several convictions in trafficking cases.

He also credited the active involvement of civil society through the three member groups of the IACAT – the Visayan Forum Foundation, International Justice Mission and the Blas F. Ople Policy Center – as “of great importance” and a major contributor in the anti-human trafficking drive.

He urged the diplomatic officials to work closely with the other agencies of the government and to strengthen partnerships and networks with non-government organizations and US and Canadian agencies.

“Because the richest countries in the world belong to your region, it has also become the preferred target destination of human traffickers. This makes the job – our job – more challenging,” he said.

The Vice President also warned of increased trafficking of Filipinos in Haiti despite the country’s current condition following the strong earthquake and the cholera outbreak it experienced.

Meanwhile, the Philippines commended yesterday Australia for the successful partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the implementation of the ASEAN Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking (ARCPPT).

“In view of its successful run, the ARCPPT has been expanded to proceed to its second phase under the project, Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons (ARTIP) by strengthening capacity-building needs of ASEAN’s law enforcement officials, judges, prosecutors and practitioners,” said Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.  – With Pia Lee-Brago