Aquino welcomes PHL's removal from US human trafficking watch list

President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday welcomed the removal of the Philippines from the US State Department’s human trafficking watch list, his spokesperson said Tuesday. “Certainly, the President is very, very appreciative of the upgrade made by the State Department," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing in Malacañang. Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. According to the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report of the US State Department, although the Philippines "still does not fully comply with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking, Manila is making significant efforts to do so." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton released the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report on Monday in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Department of State. Lacierda said it was Justice Secretary Leila de Lima who informed Aquino of the upgrade. “We’d like to thank also the Secretary of Justice De Lima’s efforts on curbing human trafficking as well as all the other agencies involved in the fight against human trafficking," he said. Lacierda said the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), which is under the Department of Justice (DOJ), did a lot to solve the human trafficking problem and is still doing a number of efforts to stop it. “We have done away with the sanctions but there is an indication that we still have to make progress towards total abolition of human trafficking. We are doing our best in curbing human trafficking but the most important thing is we have done away with sanctions," he said. He added the Aquino administration is exerting effort to further upgrade the placement of the country. “We are certainly going to improve our efforts at curbing human trafficking. Whatever tier that we are required to be taken out we are going to do that, that’s been the promise of this administration." — Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News