THE PHILIPPINES’ inter-agency council against human trafficking on Tuesday vowed to boost cooperation with social welfare and law enforcement agencies as new schemes arise using online platforms.   

“We need to enhance regular engagement with our partner agencies and partners, where all of them will contribute to a strategic plan implementation,” Wendell P. Bendoval, executive director of the Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), said during the launch of the task force’s National Strategic Action Plan for the next five years.  

“We need to do something about new forms of online trafficking schemes and offer victims, and survivors the range of support they need,” he said.   

The council is composed of the Department of Justice (DoJ), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Commission on Filipino Overseas.   

The inter-agency body is tasked to develop mechanisms to prevent human trafficking through prosecution and law enforcement, and to provide timely assistance to rescued victims, according to a copy of the strategic action plan.  

The plan serves as a guide for partner agencies on actions to deter human trafficking through their agencies’ respective mandates. 

Mr. Bendoval said government agencies consulted with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to develop the framework.  

“Coordinated action and strategic measures are crucial to address this problem that is a major challenge to the rights of the public,” Justice Undersecretary Felix L. Ty said during the event.  

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. last month ordered the anti-trafficking council to thwart the “business of human trafficking” with the private sector.  

He cited the need to maintain the Philippines’ Tier 1 status, which means the country fully complies with minimum standards against trafficking.  

The US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Office conducts a yearly assessment to monitor the efforts of all countries in fighting human trafficking. It provides each country with a grade according to a three-tier scale.    

In the first two months of the year, 57 departures from the country’s international airports were tagged as possible cases of human trafficking, based on data from the Bureau of Immigration.  

Mama Fatima Singhateh, United Nations special rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, said in December that the Philippines lacked trained officials at the village level to monitor reports of child sexual abuse. 

Data from the Interior and Local Government department showed authorities conducted 227 operations combating online sexual exploitation and convicted 67 people behind illegal websites from 2017 to July 2022. — John Victor D. Ordoñez

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