Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information)
MANILA, Philippines — The Interpol has lauded the Philippine National Police for its efforts in combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling as the country remains one of the largest exporters of human labor.
During his presentation at the 24th Interpol Asian Regional Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday, Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., chief of the PNP, noted that the country has maintained its Tier 1 status for seven consecutive years—from 2016 to 2022 —in the annual Trafficking in Persons report of the US Department of State.
“The State Department recognized Manila’s assistance to a total of 6,772 potential trafficking victims and around 1,143 Filipino trafficking survivors from the Middle East and Asia,” he said, noting that the country “fully meets, if not exceeded, the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and that the country demonstrates a serious and sustained effort during the reporting period.”
“It lauded the country’s efforts to convict and punish traffickers and the increased use of prosecution procedures, reducing further harm to the victims,” the PNP chief added.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, the president of Interpol, commended the PNP for its efforts in human trafficking and migrant smuggling thus encouraging other members to imitate the initiatives of the Philippines.
The Philippines was among the 30 countries in 2022 under Tier 1, the highest in the four-level ranking including developed countries such as Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
But while the Philippines met the minimum standards, the United States flagged the country for not “vigorously” investigating labor trafficking crimes that occurred in the country; for not taking adequate steps to investigate and arrest individuals implicated in commercial sex activities from trafficking victims and for not providing training for labor inspectors on indicators of human trafficking.
“The government prosecuted and convicted fewer traffickers and it did not report holding accountable officials allegedly complicit in human trafficking crimes,” the report added.
It also noted that the Philippine government did not report the total number of antitrafficking operations and investigations of illegal recruitment, as compared to previous years.
Azurin bared that of the estimated 10 million overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in 170 countries worldwide, around 3 percent or 300,000 work without a contract.
This makes the Philippines among the source countries of victims who fall prey to human trafficking, with cases of labor trafficking prevalent among OFWs working as household or construction workers in Middle East countries.
To address these crimes, the PNP chief strengthened the collaboration of the PNP with other government agencies through the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), which serves as the coordinating and monitoring mechanism for all antihuman trafficking efforts of the government.
In 2019, the IACAT created an OFW task force to help monitor and support cases involving the trafficking of OFWs.