The views expressed in this paper are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

PREVENTION
1.

Training conducted by the DOJ to enhance the capacity of front line workers

The expansion of anti- trafficking training programs for Foreign Service Officers (FSO). It is a joint effort of DFA and DOJ

WHO? - FSO are the front line of service providers abroad catering to all distressed Filipinos, including TIP victims. WHAT FOR? - it seeks to educate these frontline officers on the proper conduct of interviewing TIP victims to avoid repetitive interviews, preparing complaint- affidavits prior to the repatriation of victims, filing of trafficking cases in destination

IDENTIFYING TRAFFICKING IN PERSON CASE

According to Section 22 of the IRR of RA 9208, any person who has knowledge or learns facts or circumstances that give rise to a reasonable belief that a person will be, may be or has been trafficked, can immediately report the same, either orally, in writing or through other means, to any of the following:
1. Any member of the IACAT 2. Barangay authorities 3. Local Social welfare and development office 4. Local councils for the protection of children 5. Nearest police or other LEA

If report is made to any of these agencies, they will forward the information to the appropriate Law Enforcement Agencies for investigation. Aside from reports, law enforcement personnel may also come across possible trafficking cases during the investigation or conduct of operations involving a non- trafficking incident. DETECTION An assessment of the totality of circumstances and available information will be necessary. This can be done using a three- pronged approach:

1. Initial assessment interview of the reporting party;

This must be conducted with the person who reported the incident. The person reporting may be a concerned citizen, a friend or neighbor, an immediate family member or loved ones of the victims. The reporting party may also be the victim herself. Here is the list of questions set out in general terms and are intended to gather preliminary information about the reported incident:
a. What is the name, address and contact number of the reporting party?

b. What is the name, address, age and other personal circumstances of the victim? Describe the physical and mental state of the victim.
c. Where is the victim now? Is the victim in the Philippines or is she outside the country? Is s/he at the airport, seaport or land transportation terminal?

d. When and where was the last contact with the victim? What transpired during this last contact? e. Who else was with the victim? Did the victim travel alone or was she accompanied by the recruiter? Was there other possible description of the suspects? f. Who are the suspects? Give the name and physical description of the suspects?

g. What happened to the victim? What prompted the person to report the incident?
h. Are there any other persons who know about the incident?

2. Use of the indicator checklist

; After the initial interview, the investigator can check the preliminary information against the Indicator checklist.
POSITIVE INDICATOR The situation involves the three inter-related components of act/s, means and exploitative purpose The youngest the victim, the higher the possibility of a trafficking situation. Traffickers can earn higher profits because their potential to work under exploitative conditions is longer. Filipinos are more often victims within and across borders Lack of documents to establish identity and lack of travel documents or possession of tampered or fake travel documents Signs of physical injury and psychological and emotional trauma Victims of trafficking are often distrustful, suspicious and hostile to initial offers of help or assistance. They are reluctant to cooperate and often provide few or rehearsed answers to inquiries about their situation. NEGATIVE INDICATOR One or more of the three components of act/s, means and exploitative purpose are not present The older the victim, the less likely it is that the case involves trafficking.

Foreign nationals are less likely to be victims of trafficking within the Philippines. Possession of proper identification papers and genuine travel documents Lack of any signs of physical and psychological trauma Willingness to cooperate and provide detailed responses to inquiry may indicate that it is not a trafficking situation.

Will be indicative or trafficking depending on the exploitative purpose. Females are more often the target for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. Trafficking for forced labor will depend upon the type of work: work in agriculture often involves the trafficking of male persons while work in garments usually target female persons.

3. Review of additional corroborative materials

Documents or other evidence may be available from the reporting party or upon further investigation. For example, if the interview discloses that the victim responded to an advertisement on the newspaper, a copy of the newspaper clipping may be helpful. The officer may refer to the elements and evidence.
Note: The officers, agents and investigators are expected to detect, distinguish and positively identify a trafficking situation. Also, gather and preserve evidence for the prosecution of the case in court and lastly respond appropriately to the presence of trafficking victims.

From the detection of a the investigator must be able to answer questions such as: Is there any act of recruitment, transportation, transfer or receipt of a victim

involved in the incident?

Is the act done by means of threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or taking advantage of the vulnerability of the victim or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits? Does the intended purpose involve exploitation such as prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or servitude, slavery or slavery- like practices of the removal or sale of organs, or armed activities?

If all the answers to these questions are positive, then the law enforcer has a potential case for violation of RA 9208 .

IACAT Website

www.iacat.com.ph

Thank you