MANILA: President Benigno Aquino has signed Republic Act 10364, strengthening the country’s fight against human trafficking by plugging loopholes in the existing law.
The government is hoping that the expanded law will improve the Philippines’ status in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report. Earlier, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, chair of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, said the Philippines had been upgraded to Tier 2 category in 2011 from the Tier 2 Watchlist.
De Lima said a Tier 2 status “is an important recognition of the country’s sustained and aggressive initiatives and programmes to eliminate human trafficking.”
The Tier 2 status officially recognizes a country’s significant efforts to adhere to the benchmarks prescribed by the US State Department and meet the minimum standards.
“The signing of the new law will give the government a stronger weapon against human trafficking syndicates,” De Lima said.
In signing the law expanding RA 9208 or “An Act to Institute Policies to Eliminate Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the President recognized the need to make the government’s fight against human trafficking more effective. “This is a concern and a priority of the President and this measure will be enforced by the different agencies, especially the Department of Justice as well as our police agencies,” Lacierda said.
Lawmakers called on the President to immediately sign the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act to address human trafficking in the country, particularly in disaster areas where women and children often fall victim. The expanded law is a strengthened version of the Anti-Trafficking Law, covering attempted trafficking. It has accessory or accomplice liability, covering more related acts and individuals. Recruitment in the guise of domestic or overseas employment for sexual exploitation, forced labour or involuntary debt bondage, can now be considered human trafficking.
Also included in the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act are recruitment of any Filipino woman to marry a foreigner, engagement in sex tourism, recruitment for organ removal and recruitment of a child to engage in armed activities abroad.
The penalties and sanctions under the new law are now stiffer. Those guilty of trafficking can be sentenced to six to 40 years in prison and fines ranging from P50,000 ($1,200) to P5m ($120,000).
The Philippine star
