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Monday, February 18, 2008
Few human traffickers end up in court
By Cherry Ann T. Lim
CEBU CITY -- Efforts to curb human trafficking are hobbled by the paucity of successful prosecutions, amid the lack of cooperation from victims and the limited ability of authorities to rescue possible victims, especially those in transit at the country's many seaports.
Figures from the Department of Justice (DOJ) show that while 109 cases of human trafficking had been received and investigated from 2003-2005, only 22 cases had been filed.
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The National Bureau of Investigation's (NBI) Anti-Human Trafficking Division also reported that while it received 122 cases in 2006, it had recommended only three cases for prosecution, said University of the Philippines journalism professor Yvonne Chua.
Chua reported the figures during a media training workshop by the Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD), The Asia Foundation and the US Agency for International Development last January 31 to February 2.
During the workshop at Parklane International Hotel, Nancy Lozano, state counsel at the DOJ and a member of the secretariat of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat), said there had been convictions in only 10 cases filed against traffickers in the country since Republic Act 9208 or "The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003" was passed.
Breakthrough
The first seven convictions took place in 2005, of which four took place in Quezon City, two in Batangas City and one in Zamboanga. The rest of the convictions were handed down last year, one each in Cebu, Davao and Zamboanga.
Last July, Regional Trial Court Branch 14 Judge Raphael Yrastorza Sr. found two pimps guilty of qualified trafficking of persons and imposed on them the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of P3 million after a 2004 entrapment operation caught them offering nine females, one of them a minor, for sex to undercover NBI agents.
Interviewed earlier this month by participants of the media-training workshop, Cebu City Assistant Prosecutor Rudolf Joseph Carillo described the conviction as a "breakthrough," saying it was the first major promulgation in the Visayas region.
The suspects reacted with disbelief at having been convicted, he said.
But if he had hoped for a chilling effect on traffickers, this was not quite what happened.
Trafficking
Carillo said that while some suspects said they would stop engaging in the activity, others said that when freed, they would return to the trade, but this time, they would not involve minors.
The assistant prosecutor is currently handling more than 400 cases, of which five are human trafficking cases.
RA 9208 defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim's consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception or abuse of power for the purpose of exploitation.
Exploitation includes prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs.
Carillo said the authorities have difficulty building up cases against human traffickers because during entrapments, the women victims themselves lie about their age and give sketchy details about what they do.
Silence
He said that at times they even had to resort to dental records to determine the real age of the women.
He said most of the trafficked victims in Cebu are from Leyte, while the victims who are from Cebu are sent to Manila by their traffickers.
Luz Barbon, center head of The Haven-Cebu, a residential facility put up by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to shelter battered women, abused women and victims of human trafficking, confirms that the women are uncooperative.
She said victims sent there for rehabilitation typically lie about their age and the experiences they have gone through.
Andrea Fernandez, a reliever house parent at The Haven, said some of the women even escape from the shelter because they prefer the life outside, even if it is in the sex trade, because they could earn money.
Prevention
Assistant Prosecutor Carillo acknowledged that the victims also lose interest in the cases due to the long process.
On the prevention side, port police assisting in efforts to curb trafficking reveal their limitations.
Jesse Guillermo, port police officer of the Cebu Port Authority (CPA), said there are only 10 port policemen who could help identify possible trafficked victims transported through ships from their source provinces to their destinations of work.
The CPA has seven management offices, two of which are in the baseport of Cebu City-the international and domestic ports. The rest are in Danao, Sta. Fe, Argao, Toledo and Santander. Under these are some more sub-ports.
Some 200 security guards have been hired to augment the port police force in and outside of the terminals. But monitoring the shorelines is still not an easy task, with the baseport alone covering a four-kilometer stretch of shoreline.
First-timers
The CPA is part of the Cebu Seaport Task Force formed to intercept possible victims of trafficking in ports.
The task force also includes the Philippine Coast Guard, whose members can board ships at sea and make arrests and conduct rescues; the PNP Maritime Group, which can board ships that are docked; the Maritime Industry Authority 7; the Department of Labor and Employment, shipping companies, Gender and Development focal persons, and the Visayan Forum Foundation Inc. (VFFI), a nongovernment organization working to prevent human trafficking.
Vicente Abadesco, VFFI regional coordinator for the Visayas, said the typical victims of trafficking are 12-22 years old, female, first-timers in the big city, highly motivated and willing to take risks.
That is why they are more easily lured by recruiters from the poor provinces where they came from to hit the big cities, where unknown to them, they could end up as prostitutes serving as many as 10-20 customers a day or, if they are on the plain side, working in the drug trade or in underpaid situations as domestic workers and factory workers. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (February 18, 2008 issue)
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