Sunday, October 05, 2008 LGUs support drive vs human trafficking By Edmund B. Sestoso
SOME local government units (LGUs) in Negros Oriental responded to calls for intensifying the campaign against human trafficking by way of passing local laws and ordinances.
Of the ten LGUs identified as human trafficking hotspots in the region, only three have so far passed local ordinances. These are the towns of Sibulan, Zamboanguita and Amlan.
The three towns have adopted measures to prevent and suppress recruitment of possible victims, including children and women.
The other hotspots or major recruitment grounds for victims are Bayawan City, Sta. Catalina, Siaton, Dumaguete City, San Jose, Mabinay and Guihulngan.
According to the leaders of these towns, they are now in the process of drafting the ordinance after a series of orientation-briefings initiated by the Provincial Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking in Person (Piacat) to the Municipal Council and City Council.
Meanwhile, to speed up the formations of Municipality Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking in Person (Miacat), Sibulan town Mayor Antonio Renacia issued an Executive Order organizing such structure and mechanism not only to monitor the activities but also to plan and implement laws with regards to trafficking in persons.
The Piacat, on the other hand, has intensified its advocacy and information campaign on anti-trafficking in the towns of Basay, Vallehermoso, Ayungon, Tayasan, Bindoy, La Liberad, and Jimalalud.
Piacat explained that considering Negros Oriental serving as transit area and at the center of development, commerce, and transportation, it is a fertile recruitment ground for traffickers.
Statistics from a 2001 United Nations report, Cecile Hoffman of Gender Watch Against Violence and Exploitation (GWave) bared that 4 million persons were trafficked across borders each year of which 80 percent are women.
Hoffman elaborated that 50 percent of trafficked persons were children, quoting a 2004 US Trafficking Report. Data from the International Labor Organization meantime showed that 70 percent were absorbed by the sex industry.
