Philippine multi-agency effort vs human trafficking lauded

MANILA, Philippines — The recent move by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other government agencies to undertake an intensified effort for the country's fight against human trafficking that victimizes overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) is being lauded as a “welcome development”.

According to lawyer Jose Vicente Salazar, the multi-agency effort comes at an opportune time, amid the recent spate of human trafficking incidents in the country.

“We have reached a crucial point as far as maintaining the country's Tier 1 status is concerned and the recent amalgamation of several government agencies intended to stamp out incidents of human trafficking victimizing hapless overseas Filipino workers is a very welcome development,” said Salazar, who served for almost a decade as DOJ Undersecretary in-charge of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) from 2007 to 2015.

“This is a step in the right direction for our country to be able to extend — for the eighth consecutive year — the all-important top-tier status in the world index report on the fight against human trafficking released yearly by the United States Department of State (USDS),” he added.

When Salazar, who also served as chairman of the board of governors and national president of the powerful Integrated Bar of the Philippines, took over the reins of IACAT in 2007, the country was still on the Tier 2 Watchlist. But his professional acumen on persuading the right agencies to work together to a common goal slowly came into fruition and soon, the Philippines obtained the top-tier status.

Last year, the USDS released the TIP (Trafficking in Persons) report on HR in the month of July, which is but a scant three months away from now.

And this could be the reason for the urgency as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself personally presided over the IACAT meeting in the Malacañang Palace Department of Migrant Workers, according to Sec. Toots Ople.

The DMW has been assisting victims of crypto-currency syndicates in the filing of at least 11 human trafficking cases involving crypto-currency scams that victimized OFWs in Cambodia.

The trafficking-in-persons mastermind was accordingly arrested last March 7 in San Fernando City, Pampanga province.

Aside from apprehensions in the country's backdoor in Tawi-Tawi and at its primary gateway NAIA, cases of human trafficking of OFWs have also been monitored in Poland and in other parts of Europe Ople told the chief executive during the meeting which was also attended by the Bureau of Immigration and other concerned government agencies on human trafficking.

“Yes, indeed, the fight against human trafficking is a continuous battle and we should not keep our guard down to maintain our top-tier status,” added Salazar, who also served as Undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) but he relinquished the post only last December 2022 owing to “urgent family matters.”

“Being up there on the USDS list is actually an honor in itself because, among the 10 Southeast Asian countries, only the Philippines and Singapore made it with Tier 1 ranking.

ASEAN is an international organization that has 10 member countries in Southeast Asia namely: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

“But right now, I think a more intensified campaign against HT is necessary because the illegal recruitment of victims is done online now as such the participation of our anti-cybercrime warriors would also come into play to monitor them on social media and expose the syndicates involved,” Salazar said.

It was gathered that the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), the DICT, DOJ, and other government offices are now also involved in a more intensified education and awareness campaign against HT.

It was in 2016 that the Philippines got awarded a Tier 1 ranking.

“We hope we'll be awarded the same this year by the USDS through its Global Trafficking in Person (TIP) Report,” added Salazar, whose eight-year term as undersecretary in charge of the IACAT before gave him a good handle on how to combat human trafficking.

The TIP Report places each country onto one of three tiers based on the extent of their government's efforts to comply with the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” found in the United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).

Aside from IACAT, Salazar also served as chairperson of the National Program Steering Committee (NPSC) of the Australia-Asia Program to Combat Trafficking in Persons in the Philippines (AAPTIP), as such, he is considered one of the prime movers in gaining the top tier status for the country during his stint as DOJ undersecretary.

A top-tier status in the fight against human trafficking is crucial for any country like the Philippines as it is sometimes used as one of the criteria for funding grants like the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States.

The MCC takes human trafficking seriously and has included it as an eligibility issue.

Way back in 2010, the MCC granted the Philippines a five-year development contract for investments in roads, community development projects and improvements to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

A 158.4-kilometer highway in the province of Eastern Samar is a good example of MCC grants.