July 30 marked the commemoration of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. While it may not have received the attention it deserves as most states are preoccupied with dealing with COVID-19, it is still important to recognize that trafficking in persons continues to be perpetrated despite the pandemic.

It is true that, to a certain extent, COVID-19 has curbed trafficking in persons for migrants travelling from their countries of origin. However, trafficking has worsened for migrants who are already in their countries of destination. Trafficking in women, girls, and children for online sexual exploitation has also escalated.

Trafficking in persons is defined by Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act as amended by RA 10364. The crime has three elements: the act, the means, and the purpose, which must all converge for the crime to be consummated.

The act of trafficking in person refers to the “recruitment, obtaining, hiring, providing, offering, transportation, transfer, maintaining, harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within or across national borders.”

The means by which trafficking in persons is committed is through the use “of threat, or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person.”

Finally, the purpose of the perpetrator must be for “exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs.”

The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act further elaborates that "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, adoption or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation or when the adoption is induced by any form of consideration for exploitative purposes shall also be considered as ‘trafficking in persons’ even if it does not involve any of the means set forth in the preceding paragraph.”

Cybersex for pay may also qualify as trafficking in persons when all the above elements are present. Its worst form is when it involves a child.

To a certain extent, trafficking in persons for cheap labor or for prostitution to a foreign country has been curbed because of the strict travel restrictions brought about by the pandemic.

In the Philippines, all non-essential travel has been banned for almost five months. On one hand, this has prevented traffickers from recruiting and having their Filipino victims fly on a tourist visa.

In countries of destination on the other hand, those already vulnerable to trafficking such as women and girls and those who are severely impacted by reduced economic activity are likely to fall victim to traffickers out of sheer desperation.

The use of technology to facilitate criminal conduct such as online sexual exploitation, has also increased. Five months into the onslaught of COVID-19, traffickers and their cohorts have adapted and adjusted their business model to the new normal.

It is also worth noting that many OFWs in the Middle East, especially Filipino household service workers or domestic workers, are victims of trafficking brought about by the kafala system. Kafala is a traditional sponsorship system existing in several Middle East countries, which creates slave-like conditions conducive for sexual abuse and forced labor of women migrant workers. Kafala sees migrants as property and not as workers. Kafala brings about the worst labor and appalling human rights violations the world has ever seen. With government lockdowns in place, our OFWs under the kafala system can easily be sold, traded, and sexually abused, at times, with impunity.

The Philippine government remains vigilant in the implementation of measures to prevent trafficking and to protect trafficking victims and survivors. It has enacted significant anti-trafficking efforts in response to COVID-19 such as utilizing social media to strengthen the implementation of the 4Ps approach: prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership, and to remind the public to be vigilant about trafficking in persons especially during the lockdown period when the likelihood of online sexual exploitation of children may increase.

In May of this year, the first virtual promulgation of a court decision was handed down against a foreigner pedophile who was sentenced to suffer life imprisonment for three counts of large-scale qualified trafficking in persons. Another recent conviction for large scale trafficking for prostitution was promulgated via videoconferencing in Cebu City. Finally, last April, the High Criminal Court of Bahrain sentenced eight people to seven years of imprisonment for sexually trafficking three Filipino women migrant workers. The Bahrain case is a textbook example of how international cooperation between a country of origin and a country of destination can help combat trafficking in persons.

With all of these efforts, the Philippines takes pride in retaining its tier 1 ranking in the recently released 2020 US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report. This much coveted rank has been retained by the Philippines for five consecutive years, which shows our serious commitment to fight and eradicate the evils of this crime. Tier 1 means that the Philippine government fully meets the minimum standards of the US Trafficking in Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA’s) with regard to addressing and combating trafficking in the Philippines.

Today, despite the challenges brought by of COVID-19, the Philippine government remains relentless in fighting against trafficking in persons. In fact, some of the 120,000 repatriates of the Department of Foreign Affairs are victims and survivors of trafficking in persons.

As long as trafficking in persons continue to take place, the Philippine government will continue its mission of truth-telling, prosecution, and quest for justice. We will not stop. We will not give up. We will soldier on until the last trafficker is put behind bars and until the last victim and survivor attains justice.