CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA) — Highlighting World Day Against Trafficking (WDAT), the Regional Inter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking-Violence Against Women and Their Children (RIACAT-VAWC)-10 conducted an orientation for Grade 9 and 10 students at Opol National Secondary Technical School National High School on the laws protecting trafficking victims.
Prosecutor Karl Andre G. Salcedo of the Department of Justice (DOJ)-10 provided an explanation of Republic Act 11862, the Expanded Anti-trafficking in Persons 2002, as well as Republic Act 11930, the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) Acts.
Modern-day slavery exists in the forms of sexual, labor, and organ exploitation, where individuals are being exploited or taken advantage of, like children, depending on their vulnerability, the prosecutor said.
“About 80 percent of our cases are sexual exploitation through prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, or the production of Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) or Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) by those who produce sex videos or scandals,” Salcedo said.
There are three elements of human trafficking: the act, means, and purpose. The most important element is exploitative purpose, or reason.
There are cases of forced labor trafficking, organ exploitation, the removal of organs, the sale of organs, and the selling of a person for sex.
“Sa laktod nga istorya, ang human trafficking is gihimo nimo og butang ang isa ka tao, for the following exploitative purposes, this is what you call modern-day slavery, which exists in this form: kanang ibaligya nimo ang tao, for sex, for CSAEM, because you are using that person for these particular exploitative purposes, the elements: act, means, and exploitative purpose must all be present,” the prosecutor explained.
(In short, human trafficking is making a person like an object for the following exploitative purposes. This is what you call modern-day slavery, which exists in this form where you sell the person for sex, for CSAEM, because you are using that person for these particular exploitative purposes. The elements—act, means, and exploitative purpose—must all be present.)

Meanwhile, it is the parents who are the perpetrators of the production of anti-child sexual abuse or exploitation materials (CSAEM) and this is usually difficult to capture because this is done inside the home.
“This is a crime nga lisod madakpan unless ang bata or victim ang magsumbong pero as prosecutor, per experience 4 to 6 years old nga bata, dili na sila musumbong against sailang parents,” said Salcedo.
(This is a crime that is difficult to capture, unless the child who is 4 or 6 years old reports, but in my experience as a prosecutor, 4 to 6 year old children do not report their parents to authorities.)
Despite not having direct contact with the children, CSAEM cannot erase photos or videos online, resulting in lifetime trauma for the children. “This is the worst form of human rights violation,” prosecutor Salcedo said.
Furthermore, he added, life imprisonment is part of the penal provisions for human trafficking because it is considered a very serious offense that violates human rights.
Meanwhile, Mae Singganon from the Family Cluster Division of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-10, discussed the Recovery and Reintegration Program for Trafficked Persons.
“This is a multi-sectoral approach that delivers a complete package of services that will enhance the psychosocial, social, and economic needs of the clients,” she said. Clients can receive up to P10,000 through the Sustainable Livelihood Program of DSWD-10,” Singganon said.
The DSWD also gives P5,000 in employment assistance per trafficked person to support job-seeking expenses, and P1,050 per week for a maximum of 45 days in order to subsidize the client’s daily needs while he or she is waiting for his or her first salary.
As for skills training, DSWD will provide P7,000 per trafficked person released directly to a training school, preferably through the Technical Education Skills Authority, as well as educational assistance of P5,000 for primary to secondary and P10,000 for tertiary. Moreover, each trafficked survivor receives medical assistance worth P10,000.
The DSWD has a dedicated hotline for trafficking in persons (TIP) at 0928-386-5232. (JMOR/PIA-10)