Authorities rescued three women who believed to victims of human trafficking Monday night in Zamboanga City.
According to a report by the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime, the victims were recruited in Metro Manila and promised a good job in Malaysia.
But they were surprised when they arrived in Zamboanga City, as their recruiter wanted them to enter Malaysia from the southern backdoor, from Tawi-Tawi, the nearest Philippine province to Malaysia’s maritime border.
So they sought the help of some residents of Barangay Campo Islam, where they temporarily stayed when they arrived at the city.
They were also immediately rescued by police, including the Interagency Agency Council Against Trafficking.
The victims were first taken to a Department of Social Welfare and Development center to undergo stress debriefing. At the same time, police are continuing their investigation to arrest their recruiter who is from Bulacan.
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3 human trafficking victims rescued in Zamboanga City
Human trafficking and the prostitution of children is a significant issue in the Philippines, often controlled by organized crime syndicates. Human trafficking is a crime against humanity.
To deal with the problem, the Philippines passed R.A. 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, a penal law against human trafficking, sex tourism, sex slavery, and child prostitution. In 2006, enforcement was reported to be inconsistent. But by 2017, the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons had placed the country in “Tier 1” (fully compliant with minimum standards of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act).
In 2010, an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 children in the Philippines were involved in prostitution rings, according to Minette Rimando, a spokeswoman for the U.N.’S International Labour Organization’s Manila office.
A 2006 article reported that based on statistics provided by the Visayan Forum Foundation, most victims were between 12 and 22 years old.