Binay calls for tougher stance against human trafficking

Business Mirror
Thursday, 28 April 2011 20:03
Butch Fernandez / Reporter

VICE President Jejomar Binay on Thursday batted for a tougher government crackdown against human traffickers as he called on judges, prosecutors and law enforcers to deliver “greater results” in the combating human trafficking.

Addressing the multiagency Summit on Trafficking in Persons, Binay said: “We must demonstrate greater results in efficiently investigating, prosecuting, and convicting both labor and sex trafficking offenders involved in the trafficking of Filipinos in the country and abroad.”

He pressed concerned agencies to increase efforts to “vigorously investigate and prosecute government officials complicit in trafficking, dedicate more resources and personnel to prosecuting trafficking cases and devote increased resources to victim and witness protection.”

Binay added that as the presidential adviser for overseas workers’ concerns, it is also his “personal advocacy to see that we increase our efforts to engage governments of destination countries, through diplomatic and law enforcement channels, in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenders.”

In attendance at the summit, convened by the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, were officials of the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Immigration, the Department of the Interior and Local Governments and the Philippine National Police, the Department of Labor and Employment and the Philippine Judicial Academy.

According to Binay, who serves as chairman emeritus of the Interagency Council Against Trafficking, “human trafficking remained one of the most pressing challenges to the Philippines” adding that “cooperation between law enforcers, prosecutors and judges was crucial in addressing the issue.”

He advised the summit participants to focus on “prosecution, protection and prevention,” which were the three key result areas outlined in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report of the United States State Department.