By Benjamin Pulta – PNA
MANILA — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday urged governments and local state agencies to rally behind efforts to stamp out human trafficking, citing that the phenomenon continues to “break countries.”
Speaking during the 4th Manila International Dialogue on Human Trafficking, Guevarra warned against the “illusion that slavery has ended”, stressing that modern human trafficking “has destroyed families and communities throughout the world.”
He said the illegal trade amounts to USD150 billion, adding that money is being made by human traffickers even as “the human cost is exponentially staggering,” and calls for international cooperation.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Marie T. Badoy said human trafficking is also responsible for turning out “a generation of children growing without any guidance.”
Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) Secretariat Executive Director Rudiger G. Falcis III said the terms of reference, once finalized in the dialogues, will serve as a “framework for the intentions to be realized.”
Department of Social Welfare and Development Undersecretary Aimee S. Torrefranca-Neri, a member of the Technical Working Group (TWG), underscored the problems in the online sexual exploitation of children as “awareness, legislation and implementation.”
Neri noted the “lack of awareness of parents and guardians to protect their children” from online sexual exploitation.
Among the proposed solutions are the passage of a legislation to actively prevent the ingress of alien sexual offenders and amending pending legislation in the Senate (Senate Bill No. 44) on the Anti-Wiretapping Act to include online child exploitation as offenses, as exceptions covered by the proposed law.
Another member of the TWG on online sexual exploitation of children, Lars Jorgensen of the Stairway Foundation, opined that the “solution would be to address online exploitation” or on the Internet.
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Director Sherilyn G. Malonzo, who is part of the TWG on Domestic and Tourist Workers, urged moves to “recognize the worth of Filipino workers,” and explained that as in the case of low skilled workers, there is a need to address placement and recruitment policies to protect Filipinos.
This year, 150 minors and underage workers have been rescued by the agency.
Susan Ople of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, and a member of the TWG on Domestic and Tourist workers, bewailed the continued “lack of reintegration services” and said the government should endeavor to change the Philippines from “a nation of goodbyes to a nation of hello and hello again.”
The Netherlands Embassy’s Jaco Beerends, who is a member of the TWG on Seafarers and Fishers, said there is “an enormous gap” in what has been done to protect seafarers than what has been done to protect fishers.
He underscored the need for international cooperation in recognizing the rights of fishers who find themselves out of their own country as part of the job.
Another member of the TWG, Daphne Culanag of Plan International, said efforts must also address the situation of debt bondage, which seafarers and fishermen find themselves in.
