The Virlanie Foundation offered housing, training, and counseling services to child prostitutes. An ILO program resulted in more than 6,000 children being removed or prevented from engaging in the worst forms of child labor, including the commercial sex industry.
Traffickers targeted persons seeking overseas employment. Millions of Filipinos work overseas, about 10 percent of the population and 20 percent of the workforce. An estimated 10 percent of gross national product comes from these workers’ remittances. 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.
In December 2005 five persons were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment under the antitrafficking law, one of whom remained at large. Three other convicted persons received light sentences as a result of plea bargains. As of December, an estimated 71 trafficking in persons cases were pending or had trials underway, the DOJ was considering charges in another 85 cases.
In June 2005 the NGO International Justice Mission (IJM) and the DOJ filed criminal trafficking charges against a Manila police officer, the first public official to be charged under the antitrafficking law. In July 2005 DOLE ordered the permanent closure of a brothel owned by the police officer, allegedly employing minors. At year’s end the criminal case against the police officer was ongoing.
In August 2005 Malaysian authorities rescued and expatriated four Filipino women who were allegedly victims of trafficking. The four were recruited in Davao del Norte Province to work as entertainers in Brunei but were taken instead to Malaysia. A case was filed under the antitrafficking law against the suspected traffickers at the municipal court in Carmen, Davao Del Norte. An arrest warrant was issued, but the accused eluded arrest and at year’s end was still at large.
Victims faced exposure to sexually transmitted or other infectious diseases, and were vulnerable to beatings, sexual abuse, and humiliation.
There was anecdotal evidence that some lower-level officials such as customs officers, border guards, immigration officials, local police, or others received bribes from traffickers or otherwise facilitated trafficking. In August the DOJ launched an investigation into an alleged extortion racket among immigration officials in Cebu. Immigration officers allegedly accepted payments ranging from $4,000 to $12,000 (P200,000 to P600,000) in exchange for the entry of undocumented aliens from India, Pakistan, China, and Korea. The investigation remained ongoing at year’s end.
On July 19, IJM and the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection group rescued seven minors who were allegedly trafficked for prostitution in Manila. The case was filed in court; however, the three accused were yet to be arraigned as they remained at large at year’s end.
The government devoted significant resources to assist and protect victims. The concept of a trafficked person as a victim rather than a perpetrator was strong. The government, in conjunction with NGO partners, assisted victims by providing temporary residency status and relief from deportation; shelter; and access to legal, medical, and psychological services. As of September, DSWD had provided temporary shelter and social services to 32 women and 83 juvenile victims of trafficking. In 2005 DSWD provided services to 74 women victims of illegal recruitment, 141 victims of involuntary prostitution, and 112 victims of trafficking.
DSWD and many private groups have established shelters and rehabilitation centers. DSWD provided economic aid to victims, including residential care. Additional protective services included hot lines for reporting cases and the operation of 24 hour halfway houses in 13 regions of the country to assist victims. Although the government provided some funding to domestic and foreign NGOs for services to victims, religious groups, multinational donor agencies, and private foundations typically funded most of the budgets for these NGOs.
The government rarely deported or charged victims of trafficking with crimes; however, police sometimes charged alleged prostitutes with vagrancy. No reliable statistics indicating whether these individuals were victims of trafficking were available.
