The House of Representatives Committee on the Welfare of Children chaired by Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez endorsed Wednesday for plenary approval the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Act.
This seeks to expand and strengthen the policies against human trafficking by including online sexual abuses as part of human trafficking.
“It redefines trafficking in persons to include online offenses or the engagements of others for production of child sexual abuse and exploitation materials (CSAEM) and online sexual abuse,” Romualdez said after her panel approved the measure.
“Something has to be done to prevent exploitation of people for labor and sexual purposes,” Romualdez said.
She added one of the objectives of the measure was to modernize the law in order to cover trafficking activities committed in the advent of new technologies.
“We want to seek the assistance of the private sector, which by the nature of their business activities, may come into contact with a suspected trafficking situation,” she said.
The bill proposes to strengthen the ability of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) or any of their representatives who has been duly authorized by the Department of Justice (DoJ) in writing to submit exparte applications for the issuance of written orders from the authorizing court, to conduct “wiretapping” or interception on any communication in pursuing crime of trafficking.
The bill includes additional provisions for qualified trafficking when the persons trafficked are persons with disability, belongs to an indigenous community, when the crime is committed in times of crisis or emergency when the crime has resulted in pregnancy, or through the use of information and communications technology or using any computer system.
The committee approved measure was in substitution of House Bill 5609, 5651, 5684, 8295, and 1239 were introduced by Reps. Marlyn Alonte, Bernadette Herrera-Dy, Sol Aragones, Luis Raymund Villafuerte, Jr., Micaela Violago, Rep. Yedda Romualdez, Paz Radaza, Anna Marie Villaraza-Suarez, Ma. Lourdes Acosta-Alba, Rosanna Vergara, Maria Fe R. Abunda, Ma. Lourdes Arroyo, Naealla Bainto Aguinaldo, Ruth Mariano Hernandez, and Irene Gay Saulog.
It seeks to amend the Anti-Trafficking Act of 2003 as amended by RA 10364 also known as the Expanded Anti-Trafficking Act of 2002.
The measure defines “child sexual abuse and exploitation material (CSAEM or CSAM) ”instead of pornography.
It transposes the phrase “by means of threat or use of force, fraud, deceit, violence, coercion, or intimidation” from only the act of removal and sale of bodily organs, into the general provision of the Acts of Trafficking in Persons, to cover all acts of trafficking.
It provides as unlawful the use of online digital platforms to commit any trafficking in persons.