Records from the DSWD Field Office VIII show that girls and women rank high in the number of trafficking cases from year 2017 to 2019. The number only represents cases reported to the Regional Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Trafficking – Child Pornography – Violence Against Women and Children (RIACAT-CP-VAWC) headed by the DSWD.
Boys and men numbered to 66 in same period. Cases include forced labor/child labor, online sexual exploitation/child pornography, prostitution, and sexual exploitation. There were four victims of mail order brides in 2017.
Under the DSWD’s Recovery and reintegration program for trafficked persons, victim – survivors are extended medical assistance, educational assistance for family members, skills training in preparation for job placement, financial assistance for livelihood, and transportation assistance (part of “Balik Probinsiya” program) and other support services.
Said RIACAT-CP-VAWC Secretariat, Maria Carmela Pullantes, “an iba-iba nga ahensiya ngburubublig panginano han kabutangan han mga kababayen-an ngan kun ano an mga programa ngan serbisyo para mamenosan an mga pag-aabuso ha mga kababyen-an ha barangay, munisipyo, cuidad, probinsiya ngan rehiyon.” #