Tawi-Tawi revives anti-human trafficking body

Tawi-Tawi officials reactivated the local government’s council against human trafficking last week, according to a report. The revival of the Provincial Council against Trafficking of Persons (PCAT) is meant to address the growing concerns of increasing magnitude of human trafficking from the Philippines to Malaysia, the Mindanao Cross Global reported. According to the report, Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali presided the PCAT reactivation meeting last week at the provincial capitol in Bongao. Sahali said that from June 2 to July 2 of this year alone, local authorities have rescued 101 human-trafficking victims, including 82 female and three minors. The victims of human trafficking were promised monthly wages from P15,000 to P35,000 in Sabah and other Malaysian areas, said Norjannah Cajocom, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s provincial coordinator for Tawi-Tawi. “They [victims] were allegedly told to pass through Tawi-Tawi to reach Sabah, where their official documents will be made so they could fly to other countries like Brunei, Jeddah, Libya, and other Mideast countries," Cajocom said in the report. — OFW Journalism Consortium