Aquino: Convictions helped PHL fight vs human trafficking

President Benigno Simeon Aquino III said on Monday the "positive change in law enforcement" helped in the Philippines' fight against human trafficking. In his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), Aquino compared the number of human trafficking convictions during his term and that of his predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, currently a congresswoman in Pampanga province. He said there were more convictions in his first year in office than there were during Arroyo's term. "The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act was signed in 2003. Unfortunately, because the government did not properly implement it, only 29 individuals were convicted in a period of seven years. In just one year, we have breached that amount, convicting 31 human traffickers," he said. Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Removal from watch list In June, the United States government removed the Philippines from its Tier 2 Watch List for having several convictions of human traffickers in the past year. 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. In his SONA on Monday, Aquino said, "Perhaps, this is the “sea change" that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was referring to; and because of this change, the Philippines has been taken off the Tier 2 Watchlist of their Trafficking in Persons Report." "If we had not been removed from this watchlist, the assistance we have been receiving from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, among others, would have been jeopardized," Aquino added. Notable improvements The US State Department noted that "during the year, the Philippine Department of Justice and Supreme Court issued directives to expedite the disposition of backlogged trafficking cases." "The (Philippine) government convicted 25 trafficking offenders – an increase from nine convictions in the previous year – including two convictions in cases involving forced labor, the Philippines’ first-ever labor trafficking convictions," the report said. The 2011 US trafficking in persons report said the Philippines "is a source country and, to a much lesser extent, a destination and transit country for men, women, and children who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor." The US State Department noted that a significant number of Filipinos who migrate abroad for work become victims of "involuntary servitude" in factories, at construction sites, on fishing vessels, on agricultural plantations, and as domestic workers. - VVP, GMA News