LGU Forum on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking

Today I attended the LGU Forum on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking put on by our IJM office here in Cebu. LGU stands for Local Government Unit and so there were government officials at the barangay (each city is broken up into multiple barangays), city, and regional levels in attendance. There were also lawyers, judges, academic professors, religious leaders, commanding officers from the PNP (Philippines National Police), and members of prominent NGO's in the anti-trafficking space. The forum was divided into two parts. During the first part of the day, people split into four main groups according to what area they represented/worked in: Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, and Cebu Province. (Side note: IJM primarily works in what is called "Metro Cebu" which is composed of Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue, and Cebu Province is everything else on Cebu Island outside of Metro Cebu). During this workshop period, each of the four groups addressed three main areas: (1) what steps have been made in their area in the fight against trafficking since the passing of RA 9208 (Philippines human trafficking law); (2) what have been some of the challenges encountered; and (3) what can be done to overcome those challenges and what steps with be made in each area in the next 6 months to one year. I was able to sit in on one of the table discussions. It was interesting to hear the different perspectives from people. It was really encouraging to see high government officials and people of power in the legal system and the communities saying that the issue of human trafficking in the Philippines needs to be made a priority. Then during the second part of the day, each group made a presentation to the rest of the groups about those three areas. What made today an even bigger deal was the attendance of the newly appointed US Ambassador to the Philippines, Harry Thomas. It was such a great opportunity for the Ambassador to get a better idea for what the local government and communities are doing in the fight against trafficking in Cebu. Also, the Ambassador's visit received a lot of attention from the press and media which will result in more people being exposed to Cebu's anti-trafficking efforts.

The timing of the forum was especially appropriate in light of the recently released TIP Report (Trafficking in Persons) issued by the US Government Department of State each year. For those of you unfamiliar with the TIP Report, it rates over 160 countries on their anti-human trafficking efforts, placing countries on Tier 1, 2, or 3 (best to worst). The 2010 TIP Report just put the Philippines on the Tier 2 Watch List (which is effectively Tier 2.5) for the second year in the row. This is significant because a country can only be placed on a watch list for two years. If no improvements are made, the country is downgraded. There are pretty severe consequences for being ranked Tier 3 by the TIP Report, most notably, you lose all foreign assistance aide from the US, which for the Philippines is approximately $250 million in US Government aide. So the Philippines has some real incentive to improve in their efforts against human trafficking. Another reason that the timing of the forum was appropriate is that elections were just held in the Philippines and the President-elect is going to take office next week. Elections were also held at the city level as well. Given the change in administration, it is important for them to have a greater understanding about the crucial role played by the local government units and other organizations in the fight against trafficking.