sunstar.com CEBU

Saturday, September 17, 2011
CEBU CITY -- Young leaders in Cebu province signed a covenant Friday to help prevent and report human trafficking cases in their cities and towns.
"We will continue to be your strong ally in this fight," said United States Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr., who joined the youth at the Cebu International Convention Center.
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At least 1,000 boys and girls attended the covenant-signing by the Panlalawigang Pederasyon ng mga Sangguniang Kabataan (PPSK) and Movement of Anti-Trafficking Advocates (Mata).
"Children are not items to be sold, they are not for sale. Do not tarnish their image. Please uphold their dignity and innocence," said Aladdin Caminero, PPSK president and youth representative to the Cebu Provincial Board.
"It is very distressing to note that several raids conducted have led to the arrest and prosecution of relatives and neighbors of the victims themselves," Caminero said in his speech.
A similar observation was raised in the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report 2011.
Local ties
"Traffickers, in partnership with organized crime syndicates and complicit law enforcement officers, regularly operate through local recruiters sent to villages and urban neighborhoods to recruit family and friends, often masquerading as representatives of government-registered employment agencies," the report said.
It said the Philippine Government has made "significant efforts" to meet standards for the elimination of trafficking. But more effort is needed to protect Filipinos from "forced labor, debt bondage, and commercial sexual exploitation."
The report also identified Cebu, along with Angeles and Metro Manila, among the urban centers where people are trafficked. It described the Philippines as more of a source country (rather than a destination or transit country) for human trafficking.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said Friday's activity was a way of "sealing the commitment of the youth in raising awareness against human trafficking."
The US ambassador, for his part, described trafficking as modern-day slavery.
"Now we are all here to celebrate this event, but when I look at these young boys and girls, I cannot celebrate, I cannot be happy, because I know that there are young boys and girls your age, this very moment in this province and in my home country, who are being trafficked. That is nothing to celebrate," the ambassador said.
No aid
"We know who these traffickers are. We must give them no aid. We must prosecute them. We must send them to jail," he added.
Last June 8, youth leader Caminero signed a memorandum of agreement with the founder and executive director of the Visayan Forum Foundation, Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, to commit to adopt Mata throughout the SK network in Cebu.
In a press briefing, the Visayan Forum Foundation has said that the victims of human trafficking are usually 18-24 years old. An estimated 95 percent of them suffered physical or sexual violence as a result of trafficking.
Senior Superintendent Louie Oppus, the PNP Central Visayas office deputy director for administration, said in a recent report to the Regional Peace and Order Council that child exploitation and pornography are among the modern crimes being committed with computers.
Other crimes in this category include identity theft, fraud, narcotics trafficking, credit card fraud, theft of trade secrets, stalking and counterfeiting.
He said criminals are drawn to such crimes because of the "low risk and high yield." Anonymity makes the pursuit and arrest of culprits difficult.
Visit
Also on Friday, the US ambassador paid a courtesy call at the Capitol and met with the governor behind closed doors for about half an hour.
Governor Garcia later said she welcomed a plan to send a US carrier to Cebu soon, because this would help boost the economy in terms of tourism receipts.
It will also allow the Filipino crew to renew their ties with their families here.
The governor said she also sent a lechon as a "challenge" to the ambassador, who told her that Pampanga's lechon was so good, they brought some to Cebu for a get-together of the crew of a visiting US Navy vessel.
Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia joined his daughter in welcoming the ambassador to the Capitol, as did Capitol consultant lawyer Christina Garcia-Frasco, the governor's daughter, and League of Municipalities president Nelson Garcia.
Governor Garcia said the ambassador was a "regular kind of guy, very easy to be with and with a very distinct sense of humor." (OCP/RSA/Sun.Star Cebu)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on September 17, 2011.