President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the government to intensify its efforts against human trafficking, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Saturday.
According to DOJ Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano, President Marcos is keen on keeping the country’s Tier 1 ranking by the US State Department as he tasked the DOJ’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) to strengthen its operations.
“In fact, he has given specific instructions to maintain our Tier 1 ranking. That means he will support all the facets and all the programs that the IACAT has already put in place and he would like to enhance those programs,” Clavano said. “Although we have already been given the Tier 1 ranking for 2022, we felt we could further enhance our own operations against human trafficking,” he added.
Countries under the US State Department’s Tier 1 ranking are classified for their compliance with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and are actively working to address the issue.
Clavano said that Mr. Marcos was briefed on the issue of trafficking before the President graced the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, in which human trafficking is expected to be discussed.
“Yes. We have given the President a situationer previously on the area of human trafficking and he understands very clearly the depth and how widespread this problem is,” said Clavano during a news forum in Quezon City.
IACAT previously issued revised inter-agency guidelines, which tackle trafficking on international-bound Filipino travelers.
Also included in the revised guidelines is the boosting of jobs and opportunities in the country to keep Filipino workers migrating abroad, thus limiting the chances of trafficking.
“We have to understand that our population is a very migratory population.Around 10 percent of our population seeks to travel abroad and find their opportunities abroad and this is very specific to our country as opposed or as compared to other countries who have job opportunities where they are,” he added.
Clavano said that the DOJ and the IACAT are cooperating with its ASEAN partners in identifying transnational crime and its hotspots.
“So, the international nature or the cross-boundary or trans-boundary nature of the crime is something that we are really looking into and we engage with our counterparts from the different countries, the Foreign Affairs of the different countries, so we can gather the best practices and we can also keep up with the trends that are currently being seen in the trafficking industry or area,” Clavano said.
Among the identified hotspots for illegal trafficking for Filipinos include Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, said the DOJ official.