Wellness in Labor: Authorities increased training and public awareness efforts on trafficking

US Trafficking in Persons Report 2011: Philippines | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features: "Authorities increased training and public awareness efforts on trafficking, including for judicial officials, diplomats, civil society groups, and overseas foreign workers. The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) conducted 1,344 pre-deployment orientation seminars and 863 pre-employment seminars for over 100,000 prospective and outbound Filipino overseas workers. POEA and the Department of Labor and Employment also conducted anti-illegal recruitment and trafficking seminars in the country, attended by local prosecutors, law enforcement personnel, local government units, NGOs, recruitment agencies, and community members. The government conducted training seminars in Malaysia and Jordan for regional Philippine embassy personnel in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa on victim identification, reporting of trafficking cases, victim-centered interview techniques, and discussion of options for filing trafficking cases or related criminal charges against traffickers in the destination countries or in the Philippines."

The DFA also continued to provide pre-deployment seminars on recognizing and responding to trafficking cases to government personnel before being assigned abroad. During the year, the IACAT significantly increased staffing to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons, which now operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week, is led by three senior airport officials, and includes 11 full-time airport police department officers, 10 Department of Justice prosecutors and staff members, and seven social workers from the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also designated 14 agents to assist the task force in law enforcement operations. Four regional anti-trafficking task forces consisting of prosecutors, law enforcement agents, social workers, and NGOs were created in trafficking hotspots around the country; these task forces received funding and personnel support from the IACAT and the Department of Justice. On March 15, the IACAT launched a 24-hour nationwide anti-trafficking hotline designed to respond to crisis calls from human trafficking victims. Despite significant local demand in the country’s thriving commercial sex industry, the government’s efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts in the Philippines were limited, as were the government’s efforts to address the demand for forced labor. In December, the Philippine Congress appropriated $550,000 in the 2011 national budget to fund, for the first time, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s anti-trafficking programs. The Department of Justice created dedicated office space for the IACAT and increased staffing for the IACAT Secretariat from four to eight personnel, though the majority of these staffers were not assigned on a full-time basis. The government also overhauled its screening of immigration patterns for evidence of trafficking during the year. In August 2010, the Bureau of Immigration instituted new screening guidelines for ports of exit, leading to the interception of over 28,000 passengers identified as potential victims of trafficking, due to their lack of proper documentation and indicators of high risk for illegal recruitment and trafficking. Over 900 cases were referred to the IACAT, NBI, POEA, and DFA for further investigation. Through trafficking prevention efforts at major seaports in partnership with an NGO, over 1,800 potential victims of trafficking were intercepted, resulting in the filing of 21 criminal anti-trafficking cases.