photo from DOJ's Facebook page
As President Marcos works on his promise of a “Bagong Pilipinas” that leaves no one behind, the Philippines received its Tier 1 ranking for the ninth consecutive year in the 2024 United States Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. This is an irrefutable proof of the leaps and bounds that the government has taken to address human trafficking.
In June 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the country’s Tier 1 status, which signified that the Philippines fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking.
The 2024 TIP Report published by the US Department of State underscored the “serious and sustained efforts” made by the Philippines in eliminating human trafficking during the reporting period. The gains, the report noted, were made possible by the comprehensive measures spearheaded by the DOJ’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).
“This Tier 1 Ranking will serve as our motivation in reaching greater heights in our never-ending quest to eliminate all forms of human exploitation and trafficking. The State declares an ‘all-out war’ against every single human trafficker out there preying on the innocent. We will show no mercy in running after each one of you,” DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said.
According to the official, the Philippines’ commitment to combat human trafficking remains an integral part of President Marcos’ “Bagong Pilipinas” brand of government and leadership. The latest recognition by the US State Department brings the country closer to achieving its goals.
“For nine straight years, the Philippine government has been relentless in its campaign to eradicate all forms of human trafficking. We have already gone this far and there is no stopping us in our ultimate goal of creating a world free from human trafficking,” the Secretary added.
A call to action
In March 2023, the President ordered two government bodies—the IACAT and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC)—to step up their efforts in addressing human trafficking.
In particular, he asked them to work together with the private sector and harmonize the efforts against human trafficking, which he said could compromise the country’s economy and national security.
But aside from the economic impact of human trafficking, it is its impact on societies and communities that the Chief Executive lamented and highlighted in an X (formerly Twitter) post.
“Hindi hahayaan ng administrasyong ito ang pagtapak sa karapatan ng mga Pilipino saan man sila naroroon, kaya ipaglalaban natin ito sa abot ng ating makakaya (This administration will not allow the trampling of the rights of Filipinos wherever they are, so we are going to fight this to the best of our abilities),” he wrote.
The 2024 TIP Report by the US State Department underscored the role of the DOJ-IACAT and the Philippines courts in investigating and prosecuting human traffickers.
“IACAT adopted and began implementing SOPs, finalized in the previous reporting period, on identification and monitoring of trafficking-related corruption cases, which included reporting mechanisms and employee suspension guidelines,” the report read.
The report noted that the government added 114 new prosecutors as IACAT members in 2023, bringing the total to 547. This helped in the investigation, preparation, and prosecution of human trafficking cases.
Fighting the tag of ‘global hotspot’ for child sex abuse
Amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, something more evil and more sinister lurked for children who fell victims to online sex abuse, or the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC).
At the OSAEC Summit 2024, President Marcos spoke before government officials, the diplomatic corps, and the chief program officer and other officials of the International Justice Mission (IJM), the Washington-based nongovernmental organization that reported in 2020 about how the Philippines has emerged as a “global hotspot” for online child sexual exploitation.
The report said that the coronavirus lockdowns that restricted millions of Filipinos from leaving their homes may have exacerbated the abuses. Cases of online child sexual abuse in the Philippines have increased sharply in recent years as parents connived to have their children exploited for money.
In his speech, the President shared what he called the “dark reality” of these incidents—that one in every 100 Filipinos has been victimized by online sex abuse.
“It is an appalling statistic. We cannot allow this to continue. We will not allow it to continue,” he said.
In June 2024, former interior and local government secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. reported that there were 214 case referrals from the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center (PICACC) for four years.
There were also 98 operations conducted, 413 rescued victims, 88 arrested, and 38 convicted from 2019 to 2024.
According to President Marcos, the Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center also reported that it had rescued more than 1,099 victims of trafficking in persons and OSAEC, and arrested more than 100 suspects from 2022 to July 2024.
But he was relentless and dissatisfied as he called for a whole-of-government approach to “make the Philippines the absolute worst place for those who abuse and exploit children.”
Putting in the work
President Marcos did not just order for intensified government efforts against human trafficking, he went to work as well.
He directed the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) to assist the IACAT in launching a communication campaign to educate the public about the danger of engaging with syndicates involved in trafficking of persons.
“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,” he said in 2023 after a meeting with IACAT at Malacañang.
During the OSAEC Summit 2024, he stressed that the fight against the sexual exploitation of children online “is a battle that we must not lose and we will not lose.”
Through Executive Order No. 67 signed on August 6, 2024, the President created the Presidential Office for Child Protection (POCP), which will be under the control and supervision of the Special Assistant to the President (SAP).
The office will monitor and harmonize government thrusts, policies, and programs on the protection of children and the promotion of their welfare, and it will have special focus on OSAEC, anti-child sexual abuse or exploitation materials (CSAEM), and child trafficking matters.
He then turned to key government agencies—the DOJ, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Education (DepEd), and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)— and urged them to stand by their “sworn duty to protect the innocent children who have no power to defend themselves and have only us to look to to do that for them.”
Developing training programs and ensuring law enforcement, prosecutors, social workers, teachers, and other public servants are well-equipped to handle human and sex trafficking cases will strengthen the country’s justice system and put perpetrators behind bars, the President added.
He also commended the Makabata Helpline 1383 and the launching of #ReportOSAEC to increase community awareness of how these tragedies could be prevented.
For the DOJ, its Anti-OSAEC-CSAEM Justice Zones of Cagayan de Oro City, Iligan City, and Ozamis City have just concluded strategic planning sessions to develop tailored plans for addressing cases of OSAEC and CSAEM.
It also announced the upcoming launch of the guidelines for the Registry of Blacklisted Aliens and Child Sex Offenders. Once operational, the system will blacklist aliens and known child sex offenders, as well as enhance border protection in preventing their entry into the country.
Through the registry, the government hopes to strengthen its ability to monitor, investigate, and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes.
Accountable to his people
When President Marcos gave the marching order in 2023 to end human trafficking, it was with a sense of urgency. After all, he just inherited a post-pandemic economy and a country where addressing controversies surrounding human rights and rule of law has suddenly become paramount.
A country where human trafficking is rampant and is a hotspot for online child sexual abuse is not the “Bagong Pilipinas” he would pronounce a few months after.
The frustration, anger, disgust, and shame, he said, comes from knowing that these are happening to children.
“The challenges that we face in government are always the challenges that are brought to us by the future. And what exemplifies our future more, what symbolizes our future more than our children. And that is why this strikes at the very heart of our society. It undermines the foundations of what we are, of who we are as a people,” he lamented.
In enjoining every government agency to do its part in combating human trafficking and child sex exploitation, the Chief Executive is taking a step toward his vision of building a world “where justice and compassion prevail, and every child’s safety and dignity are upheld.” #
