Phl to strengthen action against human trafficking

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government vowed today to exert more efforts in addressing the problem of human trafficking after the United States has retained the country under Tier 2 status.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte, in a news briefing, said that while the US State Department kept the Philippines at Tier 2, Washington has acknowledged some of the Aquino administration's actions against human trafficking.

"There are 10 recommendations, and the Inter-agency Council against Trafficking intends to act on all 10...so we intend to exert more efforts on the positive areas and to, likewise, address the recommendations that were raised," she said.

She said one of the Philippine gains that the 2013 United States' Global Trafficking in Persons (USGTIP) Report cited was the increase in the number of prosecutors who are handling human trafficking cases.

Previously, she said there were only 57 prosecutors, but now the number has increased to 98.

The US report said that the Philippines was placed under Tier 2 because it was a "source country and, to a much lesser extent, a destination and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor."

The Philippine government continued to prosecute sex and labor trafficking offenders and to impose stringent sentences on convicted offenders but it convicted fewer offenders than it did during the previous year, the report said.

The countries placed under Tier 2 are those whose governments do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act's (TVPA) minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.