Human trafficking: Victims' families are part of the problem – and the solution

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — Sheila, Valerie and Bridget (not their real names) hail from poor families here and have set their sights to as far as Manila, Brunei and Japan for jobs as domestic helpers to support their families back home. But instead of finding work as domestic helpers, they ended up as prostitutes and their recruiters – human traffickers -- have simply disappeared into thin air. Promised heaven, they were delivered instead into a living hell. The trio’s cases were among the 11 filed as of last December in the courts here since the Local Inter-Agency Task Force against Trafficking in Person was created by the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. The crime is defined by law as being the recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception abuse of power or position. It includes having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation including sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs. Violation of the act entails an imprisonment of six years to life imprisonment and a fine of between PhP 500,000 – PhP 2 million. Dubbed “Tuna Capital of the Philippines," General Santos City in southern Mindanao is considered a trafficking “hotspot" because of the proliferation of bars and transit houses, according to the Visayan Forum Foundation, a non-government organization that works to monitor and curb the crime. The city with its large seaport is a traditional crossing point to nearby Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. But on top of its strategic location, human trafficking thrives in this city because of effective parental consent, according to Rebecca Magante, chief of the local social welfare and development office and secretariat head of LIATFAT. “The sad fact is that parents egg their children on when they are approached by these people in the hope they will send back money to the family," she says. According to Magante, human trafficking is a problem in 21 of the city’s 26 barangays (villages). “Victims in previous years have been children, but for 2005 to 2007, adults have become the primary victims. Trafficking cuts across all ages," Magante says. Of the 204 reported cases of human trafficking between 2003 and 2007, 87 were minors. The great majority were female. Only 11 cases have been filed in local courts, 10 at the barangay level and 183 have not been filed at all, according to LIATFAT data. Rose Delima of the City Social Welfare and Development Office and the point person for human trafficking, explained that very few cases make it to court because of a lack of interest in going after suspects. “After the victims are back in the custody of the parents or their relatives, they are no longer interested in pursuing their cases. It is something else for them to worry about on top of their trying to eke out a living," she says. In fact, in most cases when the task force responded, Delima maintains they have been criticized by the families themselves. “I’m used to being sworn at," she says, maintaining that many of the victims subsequently accused her unit of obstructing their dreams for a better life when they stepped in to rescue them from exploitation. According to Prosecutor Elmer Lastimosa, LIATFAT Chairman, there is yet to be a conviction in the city for human trafficking. Despite this, his group coordinates closely with the different law enforcement agencies and concerned government agencies to effect successful prosecution of cases. “We are as one in this fight to protect our vulnerable workers from exploitation," he told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project. According to Magante, nationwide there have only been 10 convictions under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act despite human trafficking being a sizeable crime in the Philippines with many different NGOs and intergovernmental projects working to eradicate it. To build up public support against human trafficking, Magante said a massive information education is needed to explain the dangers and prevent victims and their families from being exploited by criminal gangs of recruiters. According to LIATFAT’s own figures, the majority of victims finished their education in high school. Consequently they were easily fooled by tempting takes of jobs and money. On the other hand, Delima maintains that many recruiters directly target the families of prospective victims. To counter this, she added that LIATFAT have been conducting human trafficking training orientations in barangays and subdivisions. “Human trafficking is a very hard crime to defeat but with the help and buy in of all sides of society, nothing is impossible," she said. As to the three victims -- Sheila, Valerie and Bridget -- have all been left deeply traumatized both emotionally and physically like so many other victims Delima and her colleagues have sought to help. “They have all suffered a severe loss of self-confidence as a result of their being subjected to physical abuse and beaten to force them into having sex with customers. What makes this worse still is the realisation they failed in their dream of working overseas in pursuit of a better life." - Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project Bong S Sarmiento is a Mindanao-based journalist and a correspondent for BusinessWorld, a Philippines’ based daily business newspaper. He also reports for a string of Mindanao-based news outfits.