PH maintains Tier 1 rating vs. human trafficking

The Philippines maintained its Tier 1 status in the United States Government’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, marking the country’s 10th consecutive year.

According to the US State Department, the Tier 1 ranking is given to countries that meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

The report cited the country’s efforts to prosecute and convict traffickers, enact new legislation to regulate fishing recruitment agencies and protect fishers, and the ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

However, despite the Tier 1 ranking, the report flagged some alleged lapses by the Philippine government.

“Although the government meets the minimum standards, it did not identify the vast majority of potential trafficking victims among individuals exploited in online scam operations despite widespread reporting indicating these individuals faced conditions indicative of trafficking,” it said.

It also noted that the government did not report any foreign victims.

Aside from this, the report found that the government did not adequately and consistently screen potential trafficking victims in online scam operations and did not take effective measures to prevent their penalization. 

“The government identified fewer victims, and some officials did not use trauma-informed practices in victim identification,” it said.

“Corruption and official complicity in trafficking remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action during the year,” it added.

The US State Department gave the following recommendations:

• Investigate and prosecute traffickers, including labor traffickers and complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
• Increase efforts to proactively identify and assist labor trafficking victims, including by providing training to law enforcement, social service providers, and labor inspectors on indicators of trafficking.
• Increase efforts to proactively identify and assist trafficking victims exploited within online scam operations; ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked and provide foreign victims with long-term legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they may face retribution or hardship.
• Strengthen the capacity of local government units to provide reintegration services for trafficking survivors, including trauma-informed care, job training, and in-country employment.
• Increase support to government programs that provide specialized care for trafficking victims, including child victims of online sexual exploitation.
• Increase survivor engagement, including by establishing accessible mechanisms for receiving and providing compensation for survivor input when forming policies, programs, and training.
• Ensure victims receive court-ordered restitution and compensation ordered through civil judgments.
• Increase resources for anti-trafficking task forces and law enforcement units to conduct timely investigations, coordinated operations, and prosecutions while providing robust victim and witness assistance services.
• Consistently implement the coordinated interagency response to providing services to returning Filipinos exploited in sex and labor trafficking overseas.
• Create a central database for information on illegal recruiters and human trafficking cases to facilitate interagency coordination in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting traffickers.

For its part, the Philippines Department of Justice (DOJ) reaffirmed its commitment to combat trafficking.

“The Philippine government reaffirms that this is not just a legal mandate, it is a shared moral obligation to protect our most vulnerable from abuse and exploitation,” it said.

The DOJ said the Philippines is among the 33 out of 188 countries that obtained the Tier 1 ranking.

“There is no place for complacency in our justice system. This Tier 1 ranking is a beacon of light, an impetus for our sustained efforts,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said in a statement.

“This fight is not only for our fellow FIlipino nationals whose vulnerabilities have been taken advantage of, abused and exploited, this fight is for all of humanity,” he added.—AOL, GMA Integrated News