Palace defends RP's human trafficking status

MALACANANG rejected report of the US State Department retaining the Philippines under watch in its 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report.

Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said Wednesday that the government campaign against human trafficking and smuggling was “quite successful”.

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Mendoza said the Departments of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would be ready and able to defend and explain the country’s ongoing campaign.

He said a Task Force headed by DILG had also been formed to address the issue and lead the campaign, admitting that human trafficking is a serious concern of the country.

“Actually, I think we are quite successful in our campaign against human trafficking. This is a major concern of the country and we did a lot of policies and programs to address this particular concern.”

Labor Undersecretary Romeo Lagman said as far as the Department of Labor and Employment is concerned, they have been strict in the implementation of laws on migration and employment.

The US report showed that despite the ongoing campaign of the Philippines government, the country has yet to meet the standard in fighting off human trafficking.

The Philippines had been retained at the Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year, citing that while the country had been able to file many trafficking cases in court, there has been no conviction of any offenders of labor trafficking. (JMR/Sunnex)