Pinoys warned of abuse here and abroad

Whether in the country or abroad, Filipinos, especially women and children are at risk of human trafficking and other forms of abuse.

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) warns that they have in their watch list over a hundred foreigners for possible domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

In a press conference yesterday, officials of the CFO, an agency under the Office of the President, said they have raised their monitoring as the country is among the top migrant sending countries in the world, next only to China and India.

According to Aileen Dela Cruz Macapili, Migrant Integration and Education Division Officer of CFO, the common cases of human trafficking involved illegal recruitment and qualified trafficking involving mostly minors.

Although the number of foreigners who are in the watch list  is not that alarming yet, the CFO, according to Macapili, has to give warn the public of the risks of human trafficking abroad.

Filipino victims of human trafficking and other forms of abuses can call the CFO hotline no. 1343.

From March 15, 2011 to May 15, 2013, the CFO hotline processed 16,552 calls, made 225 responses and repatriated 117 persons.

The CFO said there are seven victims from the Central Visayas — four from Cebu City and three from Dumaguete City — in this period.

Most of the victims of human trafficking are females added Romeo Ramirez Jr, case officer of CFO.

Meanwhile, human trafficking is also a problem domestically.

According to Maria Theresa Casiño, Assistant City Prosecutor and In-charge of Monitoring and Prosecution of Anti-Trafficking Cases, 38 cases of human trafficking were filed in court in 2012 in region 7.

Eight of these cases are in Cebu City, two in the Province of  Cebu and six in Lapu-Lapu City.

Seven other cases were filed in Dumaguete City and 11 in Negros Oriental Province.

Casiño said the cases range from illegal recruitment, prostitution, mail-order-bride, cyber pornography, sexual exploitation and forced labor.

From 2003 to 2012, according to Casiño, there were 13 convictions in Central Visayas –  ten in Cebu City, two in Lapu-Lapu and one in Toledo City.

The issue of human trafficking has again hit the news after the National Bureau of Investigation and the US Homeland Security raided a cyber pornography den in Cordova town in Mactan Island last month. Arrested were a couple who used their two minor children and another child from their neighborhood in cyber pornography. /Christine Emily L. Pantaleon, Correspondent