Govt urged to look into trafficking of Filipino women in Singapore

MANILA, Philippines - A lawmaker has said the government should pay more attention to the increasing number of “sexually trafficked" Filipino women workers, most especially in Singapore. Gabriela Representative Liza Maza on Wednesday told GMANews.TV in an interview that the government should take steps on how to remedy the 400,000 migrants being trafficked internally and another 800,000 externally or outside the country. “This is very alarming kaya kailangan talagang tingnan kung paano tutugunan ng gobyerno in spite of the fact na meron tayong Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (This is very alarming so we need to look into how the government can address the situation in spite of the fact that we already have an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act)," she said. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 or Republic Act No. 9208 sets policies to eliminate trafficking in persons, especially women and children. It supposedly establishes necessary mechanisms that would protect victims and penalize violators. Victims are considered “trafficked" if they have been deceived, coerced, or subjected to conditions of exploitation as defined by R.A. 9208. “Mukhang magiging inutil ang batas na ito dahil walong convictions lamang involving 11 persons pa lamang ang naisusulong since 2003 (It looks like this law is useless seeing as there have been only eight convictions involving 11 persons since 2003)," said Maza. Singapore as a destination Maza said she was alarmed at the increase in the number of trafficked Filipino women in Singapore. “Once again we’re giving attention to trafficking in persons, most especially those who are being sexually trafficked and we’re going to look into Singapore as a destination of trafficked victims," she said in Filipino. The recorded cases of Filipino women trafficked to Singapore last year have surged to 70 percent, according to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). In a report to the DFA, the Philippine Embassy in Singapore cited “an alarming increase" in the number of victims from 125 cases in 2006 to 212 in 2007. The report said 57 Filipinas or 27 percent of the 212 victims of human trafficking admitted to either having engaged in prostitution or having been coerced by Filipino and Singaporean handlers to prostitute themselves. What should be done? Maza said she suspects that there are government agencies and officials involved in the illegal flesh trade. “Take for example the case we’re handling right now, they went through the legal channels, they know where they should pass through," she said. She said this means that there’s collusion between the trafficker and the person himself/herself in immigration. “This is very disturbing," she said. Maza gave a few short and long-term solutions to the problem. “Siyempre ang long-term paunlarin natin ang ating ekonomiya kasi hangga’t hindi yan isinasaayos, kahit santambak na batas, talagang lalabas ang tao (Of course the long-term solution is to develop the economy because as long as this is not fixed, no matter how many laws we enact, people will still leave the country)," she said. Second, she said the government agencies and officials who facilitate or are involved in trafficking should be punished. “There are big people in syndicates who have connections, if they are punished, then we’ll be able to see whether our government does have political will or not," she said. Maza added that the victims should be offered ample help in terms of repatriation or legal counsel and assistance. - GMANews.TV