Nation

Trafficking bill up in bicam body




Posted on November 12, 2012


A BICAMERAL committee will meet today to reconcile versions of a bill strengthening the law against trafficking in persons.

Senate Bill (SB) No. 2625 and House Bill No. 6339 seek to amend Republic Act (RA) No. 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act by removing the right to privacy of the accused, which is a privilege under the current law.

RA 9208 provides that the name and personal circumstances and any other information tending to establish the identity of the accused and the trafficked person shall not be disclosed to the public.

The Senate version criminalizes attempted trafficking in persons or acts to initiate the commission of a trafficking offense but the offender failed to or did not execute all the elements of the crime by accident or by reason of some cause other than voluntary desistance, such overt acts shall be deemed as an attempt to commit an act of trafficking in persons.

It proposes a penalty of imprisonment of 15 years and a fine of not less than ₱500,000 but not more than ₱1 million for attempted trafficking.

The Senate version expands the enumeration of acts that promote trafficking, including "to tamper with, destroy, or cause the destruction of evidence, or to influence or attempt to influence witnesses, in an investigation or prosecution of a case."

Senator Loren B. Legarda, foreign relations committee chairman and one of the sponsors of the measure, has said she is eyeing congressional approval of the measure before Dec. 12, which, she said, is Anti-Trafficking Day.

SB 2625 also proposes "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, adoption or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation or when the adoption is induced by any form of consideration shall also be considered as trafficking in persons."

The Philippines has retained its Tier 2 ranking -- one of four levels -- in the US Trafficking in Persons report this year for making progress in curbing the crime.

Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, said in a press briefing last week that RA 9208 is a "significant progress in its efforts to address trafficking."

However, she noted the government lacks "standardized collection of statistical information." -- K. M. P. Tubadeza