AN official of the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday said the government needs to adopt a whole-of-nation approach to successfully stop human trafficking.
DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said that while the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) has been relentless in its campaign against human trafficking, especially those who exploit children, the elderly and other vulnerable persons, the government cannot do it alone.
Ty, who is the undersecretary-in-charge of IACAT, said what the campaign needs is a comprehensive “whole-of-nation” approach where the citizenry, non-government organizations, business corporations such as telecommunication companies and international partners, work altogether for one common goal — “to end modern day slavery.”
“Ang human trafficking hindi lang ito whole of government approach kundi whole of nation approach ito (To fight human trafficking, what is needed is not only a whole of government approach but a whole of nation approach),” he said.
Last year, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla warned Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that if they refused to cooperate in tracking down human traffickers, particularly of minors, the government may go after and sue them for online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
Republic Act 9775, or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, requires ISPs to install a software that will block access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography in the internet.
Aside from the DOJ, the other member-agencies of the IACAT are the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Local Government, and Social Welfare and Development, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Immigration and various non-government organizations.
Early this month, the NBI arrested seven persons, including a Chinese national, in separate operations in Quezon City and Parañaque City, for offering the sexual services of minor females to foreign nationals in exchange for money.
On June 27, a mother and aunt were also apprehended by the NBI in Quezon City for sexually exploiting an 11-year-old girl.
Last June 18, state prosecutors indicted a man from Nueva Ecija for sexual abuse and selling exploitation materials involving minors on social media platforms.
Ty said the operations were part of the over-all effort employed by the government to fight human trafficking.
“Unang-una ‘yung prosecution, pangalawa ang protection, pangatlo ay ang prevention at pang-apat ay ang partnership. Ito ‘yung mga sari-saring paraan na sama-samang ginagamit natin upang solusyunan o mabawasan ang human trafficking (First is prosecution, second is protection of the victim, third is prevention, and fourth is partnership. These are among the measures which we use to provide solution to the problem of human trafficking),” Ty said.
The Philippines has retained its Tier 1 ranking in the 2024 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report released by the US State Department.
Countries on Tier 1 ranking – the highest ranking – are those which meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking with the governments showing serious and sustained efforts to convict more human traffickers, identify victims and improve efforts to prevent more victims.
