Continuing vigilance vs child abuse remains a crucial duty

My heartfelt gratitude goes to the Inquirer for its March 15 editorial, “Every kind of evil,” which called attention to the exploitation of our children by human trafficking and child pornography syndicates here in our country and abroad.

The editorial underscores the crucial role that media play in our bid to expand public awareness of the presence of this menace and the extent of the cruelty and perversion of those who help perpetrate it.

The editorial rightly mentioned that the Philippines now ranks No. 1 in Asia in the 2014 Global Slavery Index. The ranking simply means that our country, despite its limited resources, has outpaced other countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of our efforts at battling human trafficking and child pornography.

The editorial, however, correctly pointed out that government’s efforts alone may not be sufficient. We are one with the Inquirer in the position that we can stamp out this evil only “with government and the citizenry fully engaged.” While the number of arrests, prosecution and conviction of offenders has significantly risen, the incidence of related crimes may not have subsided. Continuing vigilance is called for.

Again, I thank the Inquirer for standing by the country’s efforts to defeat this evil and for calling attention to the need for public participation in this regard.

—JOSE VICENTE B. SALAZAR, undersecretary in charge, Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking