Solon seeks action vs human trafficking in Visayas

A partylist lawmaker on Monday urged national and local authorities to address the rampant human trafficking in the Eastern Visayas region, where even girls as young as 13 years old are being victimized. In a statement, An Waray Rep. Florencio “Bem" Noel said hundreds of Eastern Visayan women and young children are going to spend their Christmas inside brothels and sweatshops in Metro Manila as the trade of human trafficking continues unabated. “For these young Warays, Christmas means spending the holidays inside a dark room with a complete paying stranger or working to death inside factories not fit for humans," Noel said. He noted that from January to June this year, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has monitored 108 cases of human trafficking from Eastern Visayas, the region comprised of Leyte, Samar and Biliran. He said of the number, 70 percent are young women aged from 13 years to 17 years old. In 2006, Noel said DSWD documented 185 cases of human trafficking from Eastern Visayas and 105 cases in 2005. Noel said the figure could still go up because there are still many undocumented and unmonitored human trafficking cases from Eastern Visayas . “With the grinding poverty, the cases are bound to increase every year and the solution is the combined vigilance of Eastern Visayas provincial and local leaders, law enforcement agencies and the national government through the DSWD," Noel said. The partylist congressman lamented that human traffickers could conduct their trade with impunity because distant relatives of the victims are in often in cahoots with them. Noel warned the cycle of recruitment will intensify again in the early weeks of January 2008 considering that the period of January to June is the “open season" for human traffickers operating in Region 8. Noel noted it is in this particular period that potential victims are very vulnerable. “As the end of school season draws near, students from poor families are lured with summer jobs in Metro Manila. The offer is usually tempting for families that cannot afford send their children in the next school season," he said. He said the victims are usually recruited as househelp or workers in seedy factories only to end up working without pay in sex brothels and sweatshops. Noel, citing the DSWD report, said the Waray towns of Paranas and Jiabong and Calbayog City in Samar province and Mapanas and Las Navas in Northern Samar are considered as human trafficking “hotspots." He said local officials from these areas should band together to closely monitor movements of their Manila-bound constituents and double check if decent jobs are indeed waiting for them. Noel stressed relatives who are found to be in cahoots with drug traffickers should also be held accountable. - GMANews.TV