MANILA
(20 June 2013)– According to the 2013
Trafficking in Persons Report issued by the US Department of State, the
Philippines has retained its Tier 2 anti-trafficking rating for the second
straight year. Tier 2 rating is given to countries whose governments do not
fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to do so.
In
its report, the US State Department retained the Philippines’ Tier 2 status as
it stressed that “the inefficient judicial system in the country posed serious
challenges to the successful prosecution of human trafficking cases.”
“Law enforcement officials’ complicity in
human trafficking remained a problem in the Philippines, and corruption at all
levels of government enables traffickers to prosper,” the report pointed out.
According
to the report, government agencies that were tasked to enforce laws against
human trafficking were reportedly the offices that permit trafficking offenders
to conduct illegal activities, allowed traffickers to escape during raids,
extorted bribes, facilitated illegal departures for overseas workers, and
accepted payments or sexual services from establishments known to traffic women
and children.
The
report cited the cases of a judge who reportedly mishandled trafficking cases,
and a city prosecutor, who allegedly accepted a bribe to downgrade a human
trafficking charge to child abuse.
“There
were ongoing allegations that police officers at times conducted indiscriminate
or fake raids on commercial sex establishments to extort bribes from managers,
clients, and female victims in the sex industry, sometimes threatening the
victims with imprisonment,” the report said.
It
also noted the dwindling number of human trafficking-related convictions in the
Philippines – from 29 convictions to 24.
Full account available at http://mb.com.ph/News/Main_News/18316/US:_Philippines_retains_tier_2#.UcPD6uBOhAQ