The monitoring system put in place by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) has resulted in the speedy resolution of human trafficking cases, Vice President Jejomar C. Binay said.
Binay, Chairman Emeritus of the IACAT and Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Concerns announced a total of 16 persons were convicted for human trafficking-related violations in 9 separate cases since January, 2012.
“This brought to 44 the number of human trafficking convictions under President Noynoy Aquino’s administration, with 58 persons convicted,” Vice President Binay said.
The IACAT is closely monitoring all pending human trafficking-related cases to ensure “a timely conviction of the perpetrators,” Binay stressed. “We are focusing on following through with the cases until a decision is passed. It’s not enough that we file cases against these human trafficking syndicates, we have to make sure that those involved are put behind bars,” he said. “We expect more convictions in the coming months.”
Binay said that 44 human trafficking convictions two years into President Aquino’s term is a “far cry from the 29 convictions the previous administration acquired from 2005 to June 2010.”
The Philippines has retained its Tier 2 status in the recently-released Global Trafficking in Persons Report (GTIP) of the United States Department of State. It was previously in the Tier 2 Watch List status.
The annual GTIP report classifies countries into “tiers” based on whether or not they meet the standards set by the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).
“Even before the release of the GTIP report, I had already instructed the IACAT to monitor the cases we filed.” Binay pointed out.
Among the recommendations in the GTIP report is the need to “address the significant backlog of trafficking cases by developing mechanisms to track and monitor the status of cases filed with the Department of Justice (DoJ).”
The report also recommended that the government conducts “immediate and rigorous” investigations of public officials involved in trafficking activities.
The DoJ has previously filed show cause notices to 14 Bureau of Immigration personnel for their alleged involvement in the illegal smuggling of Filipinos to foreign destinations, including war-torn Syria. /MP
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