Tighter monitoring of human trafficking methods

This is in relation to Jocelyn R. Uy’s report titled “Bureau of Immigration uncovers new human trafficking scheme” (Inquirer, 8/4/12). The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), as the lead agency of the Inter-Agency Council Against Human Trafficking (IACAT) Committee on Advocacy and Communication (Advocom), would like to inform the public that the fight against human trafficking has resulted in tighter monitoring by concerned government agencies.

Since the establishment by the CFO and IACAT of the 24/7 telephone hotline 1343 against human trafficking, 11,000 calls from local and overseas sources have been received, with 165 case calls recorded, and of which 52 are reportedly human trafficking victims. Unfortunately, many victims do not file charges against their recruiters.

Due to the need for closer surveillance of human traffickers, especially via marriage bureaus or syndicates, on July 16 the CFO took over from two private service providers the guidance and counseling services for Filipino spouses of foreign partners. This was necessary because doubts had earlier been raised regarding the improper use of the CFO sticker, which is affixed to passports of spouses and their foreigner-partners upon presentation of the certificate of completion of the counseling requirement. The CFO has expanded its services and taken a direct hand to ensure the legitimacy of the documents being presented.

In addition, the CFO emphasizes that the convergence initiatives of the Aquino administration have resulted in stronger IACAT coordination in the wake of the marked increase in the number of Filipino women with foreign spouses heading for abroad, especially for South Korea. The recent successes reported by the Bureau of Immigration in curbing the efforts of traffickers using “fake” or “arranged” marriages for transporting Filipino women prove that this is an effective way to nip the problem at various points of the departure processing system. Even though the CFO has recently signed an agreement with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (Mogef) of South Korea to improve the delivery of information and assistance here and abroad, this is still no guarantee that our nationals will be well-protected.

Trafficking, in the guise of intermarriage, is a known practice, updated with advances in social media and the Internet. The CFO case monitoring databank shows that offers of overseas employment via marriage are a source of income for local prostitution rings, sometimes with the collusion of the victims’ relatives and friends.

The need for heavily penalizing and revealing the identity of the perpetrators of mail order bride schemes and other forms of human trafficking cannot be overemphasized. The CFO strongly urges policy reform via changes in the Anti-Mail Order Bride Law (RA 6955) and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 (RA 9208), as initiatives of the IACAT-Advocom will need the cooperation of all stakeholders.

—UNDERSECRETARY MARY GRACE TIRONA,

executive director,

Commission on Filipinos Overseas