MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has ordered agencies to strengthen and harmonize the anti-human trafficking efforts of the government and private sector, noting that pandemic-induced livelihood losses make people vulnerable to the crime.
Marcos issued the directive during a meeting with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) yesterday in Malacañang.
“The IACAT and the PAOCC must take the lead in harmonizing government initiatives, public-private partnerships to thwart the business of human trafficking in its multifarious operations on the ground and now becoming more and more important online,” Marcos said.
According to Marcos, human trafficking is an ongoing problem for many countries as the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. People without work and source of livelihood make them more vulnerable to human traffickers and it’s time for government to intervene, he added.
“I think the room for improvement here is that we can work together more and coordinate together more and where – that puts meat on the bones of what we have come to call the whole-of-government approach and bring everything to bear to the problems that we are facing,” the President said.
Marcos instructed agencies to halt the operation of human traffickers who exploit the physical and economic weaknesses of vulnerable people, especially women and children.
He also cited the need for the country to keep its status in the tier system.
“I remember (Migrant Workers) Secretary (Susan) Toots (Ople) and I started on this campaign to remove us from Tier 2. We were in danger coming down to Tier 3 at the time. So we managed to take us back up to Tier 1. And let’s just make sure that the Tier 1 categorization or status of the Philippines is not put in any danger,” the President noted, referring to the annual assessment of the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Office.
The Chief Executive also tasked the Presidential Communications Office to help the IACAT by launching a communication campaign to educate the public about the danger posed by human trafficking syndicates.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has ordered the IACAT to alert all its agencies to take action against the “alarming” number of Filipino human trafficking victims, which has reached nearly 2,000 just in the first two months of year.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the IACAT would be mobilizing all its member agencies to address the “very alarming” human trafficking situation in the country. He said Filipino victims were mostly trafficked or attempted to be transported to Southeast Asian countries.
“This is what we call modern-day slavery. That’s why Filipinos should be careful. We should have a checklist before we want to go abroad,” he told reporters. – Neil Jayson Servallos