Human Trafficking in [Philippines Street Children in [Philippines] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Philippines] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of the Philippines [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Republic of the The Philippines is primarily a country of
origin for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial
sexual exploitation and forced labor. A significant number of Filipino men
and women who migrate abroad for work are subjected to conditions of
involuntary servitude in Bahrain, Canada, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Cote d’Ivoire,
Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Palau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa,
Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Women and children are also trafficked
from poor communities in the Visayas and Mindanao
to urban areas such as Manila and Cebu City for
commercial sexual exploitation, or are subjected to forced labor as domestic
servants or factory workers. Filipinas are also trafficked abroad for
commercial sexual exploitation, primarily to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong
Kong, South Korea, and countries in the Middle East and Western Europe.
Traffickers used land and sea transportation to transfer victims from island
provinces to major cities. A growing trend is the use of budget airline
carriers to transport victims out of the country. Traffickers used fake
travel documents, falsified permits, and altered birth certificates. A
smaller number of women are occasionally trafficked from the People’s
Republic of China, South Korea, and Russia to the Philippines for commercial
sexual exploitation. Child sex tourism continues to be a serious problem for
the Philippines. Sex tourists reportedly came from Northeast Asia, Europe,
and North America to engage in sexual activity with minors. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2008 [full country
report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in the Philippines. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their
authenticity or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Trafficking Of Women And Children A girl child in the Philippines is
discriminated upon early in life due to culture-based and family reinforced
gender biases. For instance, despite her special nutritional needs in
preparation as future mother and nurturer, the girl child is allotted less
food than her father and her brothers. When money for education is scarce,
her brothers are given the preference. The Filipino girl child takes the
stereotyped role of her mother who is portrayed as an abused and submissive
woman relegated to domestic work. Moreover, the public considers girls and
women as sex objects and typifies them as club/bar entertainers, beauty
pageant contestants, and racy or pornographic film stars. The pejorative expectations that
Filipino society has on women and children are compounded by problems of
extreme poverty; massive labor export; globalization; porous borders; aggressive
tourism campaigns; negative portrayal of women by mass media; pornography
on-line and internet chat-rooms; the practice of mail-order brides;
inter-country adoption; and joint military exercises in the country with
visiting forces from abroad. These factors cause women to become easy victims
of sex-trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation either in the
Philippines or in countries of destination. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are reportedly trafficked internally for purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and labor.
Children are also known to be involved in the trafficking of drugs
within the country. There are no
reports of child soldiers in the government armed forces, but children under
the age of 18 are used as soldiers in paramilitary and armed opposition
groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf
Group and the New People’s Army. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Both
adults and children were trafficked domestically from poor, rural areas in
the southern and central parts of the country to major urban centers,
especially Metro Manila and Cebu, but also
increasingly to cities in Traffickers targeted persons
seeking overseas employment. Most recruits were females ages 13 to 30 from
poor farming families. The traffickers generally were private employment
recruiters and their partners in organized crime. Many recruiters targeted
persons from their own hometowns, promising a respectable and lucrative job. Victims faced exposure to sexually
transmitted or other infectious diseases, and were vulnerable to beatings,
sexual abuse, and humiliation Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005 [85] The Committee welcomes the
adoption of, in 2003, the new Anti-Trafficking Law (Republic Act 9208) and
other measures taken by the State party in the areas of prevention of
trafficking and protection of victims, such as the establishment of
Anti-Illegal Recruitment Coordination Councils, the Trade Union Child Labor
Advocate (TUCLAS) initiative and the establishment
of an Executive Council to suppress trafficking in person particularly women
and children. But the Committee is gravely concerned about trafficked
Filipino children both within the country and across borders. The Committee
expresses its concern about existing risk factors contributing to trafficking
activities, such as persisting poverty, temporary overseas migration, growing
sex tourism and weak law enforcement in the State party. DSWD bats for comprehensive program to hasten rehab of
human trafficking victims Mrs. Sampang
emphasized to the victim-survivors during the dialogue, not to blame
themselves as they are just victims of ignorance and lack of awareness of the
modus operandi of illegal recruiters.
"Your cases should serve as eye opener to other youth and
individuals not to become the next victim of human trafficking", she
added. On the other hand, Director Finardo Cabilao of DSWD Central Office noted in his message the increasing
incidence in the country of human trafficking or commoditizing human beings,
including such activities as selling of body organs, mail order brides, hard
labor and prostitution which are becoming customary in nature. Human
trafficking cases in E. Visayas ‘alarming’ Eastern Visayas
continues to be a source of women and children being sent to Metro Manila
brothels and sweatshops, and the number of trafficking cases is alarming,
according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the region. DSWD officials
said the number of human trafficking cases was increasing despite efforts to
stop them. She said the victims were mostly
children and women who were recruited by trafficking gangs. The victims end
up working without pay in brothels and sweatshops in Metro Manila, she said. ‘Sex
slaves’ sue for human trafficking The complainants alleged that they
were recruited by an unnamed Filipina recruiter who has connections with a
Malaysian immigration officer and offered them jobs as waitresses and were
deployed abroad without going through the POEA for
document processing. But against their will, they were
allegedly made sex slaves and were not allowed to go out of the building
where they are housed. There are still more than 40 other Filipinas in the
sex den and more are being recruited, they said. Halfway
houses at ports protect sex trade victims A female recruiter, who promised
Ana a job as a storekeeper in Cavite, flew her from
her home province of Bukidnon to Manila in January
2006. From there, she was brought to Cavite and
forced to work as a guest relations officer (GRO)
in a bar and, eventually, as a prostitute.
With three other girls—all minors—Ana was made to work from 4 p.m.
till past midnight. If the girls refused to cooperate, “Steve,” a nephew of
the bar owner, would beat them or douse them with water. - htcp 161
rescued from human traffickers -- BI Libanan said the human trafficking
victims were rescued when they were barred from leaving the country for being
"tourist workers," or undocumented overseas Filipino workers
disguised as tourists. He said the
bulk of the offloaded tourist workers were bound for the Middle East and
other destinations such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Libanan informed
Arroyo that the BI strictly implemented her directive for the agency to take
the lead in stopping the escort racket to safeguard and protect the interest
of overseas Filipino workers. 25 Pct. Of Global Human Trafficking Victims Are Filipinos http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008286912 The International Justice Mission
on Thursday said that 25 percent of global human trafficking involves
Filipinos, meaning that for every four humans trafficked across the globe,
one of them is a Filipino. Dealing
with human trafficking Leaving home to work elsewhere is
a dream many Filipinos nurture. It is their answer to poverty and
joblessness. Yet, there have been too many stories of migrants heading for
faraway places, only to find themselves in the worst kinds of employment: as
prostitutes or slaves, doing bonded labor for which they are sometimes not
paid at all. The victims of domestic
trafficking are mostly young men and women from the remote areas in the Visayas and Mindanao. Their destination: Metro Manila.
Most of them end up as prostitutes, domestic helpers or factory workers, and
discover that life in the big city can be a nightmare. Human
trafficking on the rise, with easy pickings in RP A distant relative had duped Quezo's father into allowing her to travel with him to
Manila when she was barely 12, supposedly for a leisure trip. That hot summer
day was the last time she saw her family in impoverished Muslim
Mindanao. The relative turned out to
be a broker for a human trafficking syndicate, but decided to keep Quezo as his personal slave. For three years, the young
girl worked for him as a cook, nanny and maid -- and was not paid a cent. Then one day, her captor forgot to
lock the gates and Quezo escaped, only to end up
lost in the dank alleys of Manila's slums, working odd jobs that paid enough
to buy food and the clothes on her back. Quezo is now rebuilding her life,
learning livelihood skills that should help her reintegrate into society. She
remains hesitant about going home, fearful of her parents' reaction. Human
traffickers rarely punished Statistics from the Department of
Justice (DOJ) showed that since 2003, 248 cases of human trafficking have
been filed, of which the highest number was filed in 2005 with 114
cases. Deanna Perez, Senior State Prosecutor
for DOJ and head of the Secretariat of the Inter-Agency Council against
Trafficking (IACAT), said the slow disposition of
cases in the courts contributes to the low number of convictions. A large
number of the cases are still in the process of initial investigation, she
said. Aside from this, some victims
have withdrawn charges for fear of their lives or simply because they cannot
endure the emotional stress of a trial. Women
comprise 75.1% of human trafficking victims in Region 8 last year However, the victims from Region 8
increased from 108 in 2005 to 132 in 2006 or a 22.2 percent increase. What is
most appalling is that more than half or 54.6% of the total trafficked
victims in the region in 2006 were children ranging from 13-17years old. The country can play an even
better role by intensifying the campaign against human trafficking in its own
backyard. Illegal recruiters continue to lure women and even minors from
impoverished communities nationwide to work overseas as maids or
entertainers. Many of the women end up as commercial sex workers or find
themselves unable to leave employers who abuse them physically and sexually. Talent
scout nabbed for human trafficking A gay fashion show manager sending
Filipino women to China was arrested by agents of the National Bureau of
Investigation after victims complained that they ended up as sex slaves in
Macau. Lasala said Fajardo
brought them to nightclub where they had to work 20 hours a day providing sex
during their 23-day stay. The duped
recruits later learned that Fajardo had abandoned
them, taking all their earnings. Human
traffickers found opening up new route in Calbayog-Masbate In the end, Director Corillo said that there is a need to educate the people
especially the young adults so that they will not become victims of human
trafficking. More often than not, the victims give consent to the human
traffickers because they are in dire need for work. Also, many times, the
parents are the ones who push their children by consenting that they go with
the perpetrators. It is the consensus that poverty
is the root cause of victims of human trafficking. Aside from going after the
human traffickers so that they will not be able to continue their illegal
activities, the solution really is helping the families to have sufficient
resources. Bacolod reports 16 cases of human trafficking She disclosed that one of the main
problems they face in dealing with TIP victims is in the reintegration of
victims to their family and community where the lack of social workers is
critically felt. Batapa
is seeking for the accreditation of local Non-Government Organizations that
will fulfill the lack of manpower and competence to handle the victims. The path to
recovery of Isabel and Irene The flight schedule was
pinned up on the wall. The pimps arrived and began to argue with the police
claiming that they had an understanding with the police chief. But the police
we had with us were from a different station. While they were busy discussing
the payoff, the Preda team went into the house with
the mother and found Isabel. They got her out into the van and sped away
before anyone could stop them. It was clear that there would be no
investigation and no arrests. If only we could have rescued all the girls it
would have been a great day’s work but unfortunately it was impossible. The
girls were teenagers and one of then had a baby. Here are some suggestions on how
media coverage of trafficking could do better: First, get off this obsession with
“foreign” trafficking. While researching and writing the book “Nightmare
Journeys: Filipina Sojourns Through the World of Trafficking,” I encountered
stories of women who followed a route of domestic trafficking before being
trafficked abroad -- from their small towns to bigger cities, then on to
Manila, before they were shipped out of the country. Domestic trafficking
feeds global trafficking. Next, we could draw attention to
other aspects of the issue: structural problems in society that render women
and children vulnerable, issues of gender inequality and the human rights of
women and children, and the sense of male entitlement that feeds the “demand”
for a growing pool of trafficked women and children. If the media are to cover
trafficking as a “crime,” then they should make the effort to “follow the
story” to its real conclusion, and not stop at just the raid or rescue and
the arrest. Coverage from arraignment, trial and hopefully conviction, would
show both the limitations and potentials of new laws governing trafficking.
For instance, I have just found out that through the efforts of a wide range
of agencies, the government has been able to win convictions for seven
individuals on grounds of trafficking. VP
De Castro, US envoy seeking end to human trafficking De Castro said overseas Filipino
victims are usually undocumented nationals who gain entry into other
countries using visitor’s visas and end up working in sex dens or other
establishments under debt slavery conditions. Some are legally processed as
overseas workers but are victimized through violations of their original
contracts, he added. Team
ready vs human trafficking Western Visayas,
particularly Negros Occidental, is one the regions
in the Philippines with a rising number of women and children being
trafficked for work and sexual exploitation. Aside from Western Visayas, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Central and Eastern Visayas
are also considered to be hotspots, with 127 surveillance and 77 rescue
operations conducted recently, said the labor department. NGO
gets $179,000-US grant for human trafficking victims The United States government has
provided a grant of 179,000 dollars to help a Philippine non-governmental
organization expand its halfway house operations to help victims of human
trafficking, according to a statement by the US Embassy in Manila. IT
skills training enlisted in fight vs human
trafficking Based on the statistics provided
by the Visayan Forum Foundation, most victims are
between 12 to 22 years old. Since 2001, a total of 10, 523 victims and potential
victims of human trafficking in the Philippines have been served in the Port
Halfway Houses, which is a partnership program between the Visayan Forum Foundation and the Philippine Ports
Authority. The numbers may be even higher, however, because of the difficulty
in accurately tracking numbers in all the country's regions. Hi-tech
human trafficking in RP getting worse Human traffickers in the
Philippines have begun using the Internet in their operations, according to
an official of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT). IACAT chief Severino
Gaña, Jr. said at a press conference that many
female victims end up working for pornography websites where they perform
sexual acts in front of webcams for paying customers. Microsoft
gives P10M to fight human trafficking in RP MICROSOFT Philippines will give 10
million pesos in cash and a software grant to a non-profit organization enagaged in anti-human trafficking activities in the
Philippines, officials said. An
estimated 10,000 survivors and potential victims of human trafficking stand
to benefit from this two-year program. Speaking
the truth on prostitution HEADY DREAMS - Born in the southern part of
the main Philippines island of Luzon, Pascual was
16 when she began working the bars, fresh out of high school and with heady
dreams of becoming a restaurateur. She asked her aunt for help in
getting her a job. The aunt sold her to a man who pimped her to a massive
nightclub of 3,000 girls in Olongapo in return for
a cut of her first four months of "wages." Palace
vows conviction of human traffickers The Palace spokesman issued his
statement after The Philippines was the first
country to adopt in 2003 an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. And Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Teodoro Bay sentenced a couple to 160 years in prison for
peddling “starlets” to moneyed sex trade clients. There are seven convictions
now. Overall the Philippines has
enough laws, says the Nevada University study. “The problem is
implementation.” In Cebu,
a task force operated ineptly. Police were untrained. Lawyers lacked
understanding of the new law. “The net effect seems to be punishment of the
girls, not the perpetrators.” “They
sit there and look, like this [Cebu] 'barangay' [neighborhood district] official,” the Nevada
University study quotes a nun helping girls trapped in the red light
district. “But he has his own bars. Many of the brothels there are owned by
policemen. ‘Oh, he is my customer,’ a girl will tell us. And now, he is the
one who imprisons me.” Court finds couple guilty of human trafficking1 THE Quezon
City Regional Trial Court sentenced a couple to 160 years in prison for
peddling starlets and would-be movie stars to moneyed sex trade clients. In a 25-page decision, Judge Teodoro Bay imposed four life terms against Den Jerson Tongco and his wife
Alicia in a second case of conviction against human traffickers in the
Philippines. The Tongcos
were also found guilty of illegally recruiting men and women, whom the couple
promised of jobs in the local entertainment industry, only to end up selling
sex to foreigners, businessmen and moneyed professionals. DFA says 6 more convicted under
anti-trafficking law1 The Department of Foreign Affairs
has monitored six more convictions for violation of the Anti-Trafficking in
Persons Act, increasing to seven the total number of convictions since the
law was passed in 2003. Trafficking Of Women And Children A girl child in the Philippines is
discriminated upon early in life due to culture-based and family reinforced
gender biases. For instance, despite her special nutritional needs in
preparation as future mother and nurturer, the girl child is allotted less
food than her father and her brothers. When money for education is scarce,
her brothers are given the preference. The Filipino girl child takes the
stereotyped role of her mother who is portrayed as an abused and submissive
woman relegated to domestic work. Moreover, the public considers girls and
women as sex objects and typifies them as club/bar entertainers, beauty
pageant contestants, and racy or pornographic film stars. The pejorative expectations that
Filipino society has on women and children are compounded by problems of
extreme poverty; massive labor export; globalization; porous borders;
aggressive tourism campaigns; negative portrayal of women by mass media;
pornography on-line and internet chat-rooms; the practice of mail-order
brides; inter-country adoption; and joint military exercises in the country
with visiting forces from abroad. These factors cause women to become easy
victims of sex-trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation either in
the Philippines or in countries of destination. Sex worker joins campaign vs prostitution She was sexually assaulted by a
relative. She filed charges against her attacker, but without witnesses, the
case did not prosper. Wanting to
escape from her past, she went with a recruiter who promised her a job that
paid P1,000 a day as a saleslady in The prevalence of human trafficking According to him, Cebu is among the top five areas in the country where
child prostitution and sex tourism are prevalent because it is the
destination of international and domestic trafficking of kids ages 11 to 17
from nearby provinces of Samar, Leyte,
Bohol, and Illicit
cross-border trade is the ugly face of globalization Unfortunately, in the UNICEF raps child-trafficking in RP If not being forced into
prostitution, children are made to pose nude for pornographic materials or
Web sites. "Parents think that by
taking photographs of their children naked, they are not harming them. But
they are taking away their childhood," NBI Busts Mail-Order Bride Syndicate In his report to Wycoco, NBI Anti-Human
Trafficking Division (AHTRAD) chief Romulo Asis said the group’s
modus operandi was to entice Filipino women to apply for match-marriages with
male Koreans. Asis
said Korean clients would come to the Japan
Is Limiting The Entry Of All Foreign Entertainers Sex
Trafficking Growing In S.E.Asia Girls from the villages of Wising
Up On Sexual Trafficking Of Women And Children [DOC] [scroll down] Cebu is considered as one of the top five areas for child prostitution and sex tourism. Cebu City has become the destination point of internal and domestic trafficking of children as young as 11 to 17 years old coming from Samar, Bohol, Leyte, Negros and Bacolod. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study Philippines
is 4th in trafficking of children The Philippines ranked fourth
among nine nations with the most number of children trafficked for
prostitution, the Consortium Against Trafficking of Children and Women for
Sexual Exploitation (Catch-Wise) reported. In the Visayas,
Cebu has been the destination of international and
domestic trafficking of children, aged from 11 to 17, who are from Samar, Bohol, Leyte, Negros and Bacolod. Cebu is now considered one of the top five areas for
child prostitution and sex tourism. Rapid
Assessment: Human Smuggling and Trafficking from the Philippines [PDF] [page 22] PILOT PROJECT AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN - The Pilot Project includes case
studies of women who have migrated for employment or marriage, either to
Iran, Belgium, Kuwait. These case studies provide details of each of these women’s
circumstances prior to, during and after migration, including how they travelled, their expectations and their actual
experiences. Three of these case studies can be considered as case studies of
victims of trafficking. ECPAT
Philippines Launches the Anti-Child Trafficking Campaign in the Philippines THE CHILD TRAFFICKING PHENOMENA - Every year, hundreds of thousands
of children are sold and enslaved. No official figures are available but many
separate studies and assessments have been made: Fifty-four percent of
trafficked children in the Philippines are 15-17 years old and in 1999 there
were 85 child trafficking victims documented by the Department of Social
Welfare and Development. GOVERNMENT OF PHILIPPINES' ACTION
PLAN FOR COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING - The Philippines Government has acknowledged the problem
of trafficking in women and children and has carried out activities through
the collective efforts of various national and local government units, in
collaboration with non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and
international donors. The
Human Rights of Migrant Workers SUMMARY OF THE REPORT OF THE VISIT
OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TO THE PHILIPPINES - According to the Commission on Filipinos
Overseas (CFO), 65 percent of the victims were women and 25 percent of them
were forced into prostitution; 51 percent of the victims were trafficked with
their consent/knowledge while 47 percent were deceived. Missionary
to Philippines wages ongoing battle against prostitution In 1999 PREDA,
through the International League of Action, was able to bring to justice a
group of Norwegians who were trafficking children from one town in the
Philippines and bringing them to Oslo for sexual abuse. The youngest of these
children were six and seven years old. Internal
Trafficking in Children for the Worst Forms of Child Labour:
Final Report This paper presents an overview of
internal trafficking in children, with focus on the worst forms of child labour. Admittedly, much of previous researches and
discussions on trafficking as a phenomenon had been generally concentrated on
women. As far as children are concerned, and at least within the Philippine
setting, trafficking has been construed more in the context of their sale,
barter and illegal smuggle out of the country. This research document is
based on the following data: (1) interviews conducted with seven trafficked
children; (2) three case studies representing different modes of trafficking;
and, (3) previous researches and studies made by government agencies and
non-governmental organizations which focus on children and child labour. 1. The linked article has been taken down, moved or
restricted All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Philippines Street Children in [Philippines] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Philippines] [other countries]