Human traffic cases alarming

By Ric R. Puod, Senior Reporter
Manila Times, December 16, 2003

Human trafficking is increasing alarmingly. It now ranks third in organized crime worldwide, after trafficking in illegal drugs and gun smuggling. The Philippines, confronted with the magnitude of the problem, passed in May this year Republic Act 9802, or the Antitrafficking in Persons Act of 2003. But traffickers seem not to worry about its maximum P5-million fine or life imprisonment.

The law may find it hard to prosecute even the illegal recruiters who willfully send their recruits to traffickers. "One thing we want to push is to have a quick action that will really address the prosecution side," said Maria Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, executive director of the Visayan Forum. The Multisectoral Network Against Trafficking in Persons, which the forum leads, worries that the case filed by Minda and Bianca against their illegal recruiter, Leoniza Abela, is facing provisional dismissal before Branch 5 of the Manila Regional Trial Court.

State Prosecutor Shiela Marie Ignacio foresees the possibility of the case's provisional dismissal in the next few months, unless urgent measures are taken to save it from being shelved. The complainants have missed a number of hearings that could have further ferreted out truths on the extent of Abela's illegal recruiting. "If we cannot present them," Ignacio said, "then we cannot prove the elements of the crime."

Filing a case in court, she said, is different from proving it without the complainants, whose cooperation is needed in all cases. "I will exhaust all the legal means until the court bears me out."

The absence of the complainants could partly be blamed on the mishandling of the subpoena, which was supposed to be sent either to the halfway house in Pier 8 where the victims temporarily stayed or to the Visayan Forum's office in Santa Ana, Manila. "The victims missed the hearings because we did not receive a subpoena," said Olive Crisfel Saliganan, a registered social worker helping the victims in court. "We only heard about the scheduled hearings but never an official one."

Staying in the halfway house for more than three months dampened Minda's and Bianca's interest to pursue the case. "They wanted to go back to school, and that's laudable," Ignacio said, learning about the plan later. "Even if I tell them to stay put, there's nothing I can do about it." The victims wanted to be immediately repatriated to Mindanao and leave the Balay Silungan sa Daungan, which has somehow helped them change their outlook on life.

"We're always talking here about money," said Police Inspector Osmundo Bagalacsa, deputy station commander of the Maritime Police, about the victims' withdrawing the case. Bagalacsa had the case investigated and sent Abela to jail. "How can the case progress even if it is filed in their own place? They don't have the resources to sustain it." He believes a well-coordinated and sincere effort by the multisectoral task force and the government "can nip the problem."

The case tests the government's resolve to prosecute Abela, the first person to fall under the human trafficking act since it was signed into law. "Definitely, we will follow up on this case," Flores-Oebanda said. One option is to file a petition that would transfer the court's venue to the victims' province. "We will not allow that recruiter to get away with it," Flores-Oebanda said.

Justice Undersecretary Mer­ceditas Gutierrez, who may not have been updated on the case, said in a telephone interview that she wanted to find out what actually happened. She asked whether there was indeed an affidavit of desistance made by the complainants that could lead to the case's provisional dismissal.

The Visayan Forum acknowledged that its role is limited to a custodial relationship with the trafficked person. Flores-Oebanda said the forum cannot pursue the case in the absence of the victims, but would try to persuade their families to take an active part in prosecuting the case.

This problem could become a vicious circle, hamstringing the efforts of those who vow to suppress human trafficking. They would end up rescuing victims-mostly impoverished minors-who may not have the tenacity and the will to pursue the case against their traffickers in Manila, because more than anything else they are anxious to go home.