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THE UNIVERSITY OF MANILA

College of Criminology
SUBJECT LAW ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

COMPARATIVE POLICE SYSTEM

The changing role and nature of the police
Theories and practices in law enforcement nave been compare in several studies under diverse circumstances, the
goal is to test whether the theory and practice in policing needs innovation to meet the demands of the present trends in
crime fighting. Comparative research is usually carried out by the safari method (a researcher visits another country) or
collaborative method (the researcher communicates with a foreign researcher). Published works tend to fall into three
categories: single-culture studies (the police and the crime problem of a single foreign country is discussed), two-culture
studies (the most common type), and comprehensive textbooks (which cover three or more countries). The examination of
crime and its control in the comparative context often requires historical perspective since the phenomena under study are
seen as having developed under unique social, economic, and political structures. Hence, the method most often
employed by researchers is the historical-comparative method. On the other hand, whatever method used in comparative
research in this subject matter, one thing is evident - police systems are now moving towards innovative law enforcement.
GLOBALIZATION AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
Every nation has its own law enforcement agency called the Police. One thing is common. The police symbolizes the
presence of a civil body politics in everyday life; they symbolize the capacity of the state to intervene and the concern of
the state for the affairs of the citizenry. It is therefore timely to discuss the connection of globalization to policing.
Effects of Globalization
Effects of Globalization on Law Enforcement
Every law enforcement agency in the world is expected to be the protector of the peoples rights. Globalization has great
impact on every human right.
The emergence of an international regime for state security and protection of human rights, growing transnational social
movement networks, increasing consciousness and information politics have the potential to address both traditional and
emerging forms of law violations. Open international system should free individuals to pursue their rights, but large
numbers of people seem to be suffering from both longstanding state repression and new denials of rights linked to
transnational forces like international terrorism and other acts against humanity.
The challenge of globalization is that unaccountable flows of migration and open markets present new threats, which are
not amenable to state-based human rights regimes, while the new opportunities of global information and institutions are
insufficiently accessible and distorted by persistent state intervention.
Transnational Crimes
Terrorism
There is no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism.]Common definitions of terrorism
refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or
ideological goal, deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians), and are committed by nongovernment agencies.
Some definitions also include acts of unlawful violence and war. The use of similar tactics by criminal
organizations for protection rackets or to enforce a code of silence is usually not labeled terrorism though these same
actions may be labeled terrorism when done by a politically motivated group.
The word "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged, and this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a
precise definition. Studies have found over 100 definitions of terrorism. [4][5] The concept of terrorism may itself be
controversial as it is often used by state authorities to delegitimize political or other opponents, [6] and potentially legitimize
the state's own use of armed force against opponents (such use of force may itself be described as "terror" by opponents
of the state
"Terror" comes from the Latin verb terrere meaning "to frighten"The terror cimbricus was a panic and state of
emergency in Rome in response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe in 105 BC. The Jacobins cited this
precedent when imposing a Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. After the Jacobins lost power, the word

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"terrorist" became a term of abuse. [ Although the Reign of Terror was imposed by a government, in modern times
"terrorism" usually refers to the killing of innocent people by a private group in such a way as to create a media spectacle.
This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a "terrorist" Nechayev founded the
Russian terrorist group "People's Retribution" ( )
Types of terrorism
In early 1975, the Law Enforcement Assistant Administration in the United States formed the National Advisory
Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals. One of the five volumes that the committee wrote was entitled
Disorders and Terrorism, produced by the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism under the direction of H.H.A. Cooper,
Director of the Task Force staff.[69] The Task Force classified terrorism into six categories.

Civil disorder A form of collective violence interfering with the peace, security, and normal functioning of the
community.
Political terrorism Violent criminal behaviour designed primarily to generate fear in the community, or
substantial segment of it, for political purposes.

Non-Political terrorism Terrorism that is not aimed at political purposes but which exhibits conscious design to
create and maintain a high degree of fear for coercive purposes, but the end is individual or collective gain rather
than the achievement of a political objective.

Quasi-terrorism The activities incidental to the commission of crimes of violence that are similar in form and
method to genuine terrorism but which nevertheless lack its essential ingredient. It is not the main purpose of the
quasi-terrorists to induce terror in the immediate victim as in the case of genuine terrorism, but the quasi-terrorist
uses the modalities and techniques of the genuine terrorist and produces similar consequences and reaction. [70]
For example, the fleeing felon who takes hostages is a quasi-terrorist, whose methods are similar to those of the
genuine terrorist but whose purposes are quite different.

Limited political terrorism Genuine political terrorism is characterized by a revolutionary approach; limited
political terrorism refers to acts of terrorism which are committed for ideological or political motives but which are
not part of a concerted campaign to capture control of the state.

Official or state terrorism "referring to nations whose rule is based upon fear and oppression that reach similar
to terrorism or such proportions. It may also be referred to as Structural Terrorism defined broadly as terrorist
acts carried out by governments in pursuit of political objectives, often as part of their foreign policy.

Globalization and Terrorism

The nature of the threat, its targets and impact, and the response all indicate the growing power of globalization as a
parameter of political action. The emergence of transnational civil networks capable of state-level crimes against humanity
depends upon the globalizing patterns of connection, communication, and even commodification (via financial networks).
It is inspired by a transnational ideology of a radical, extremist version of Islamic fundamentalism that is largely reactive to
economic and cultural globalization, and thus targets sites and symbols of cosmopolitanism. The shattering impact of
threats to globalizing flows such as air travel on the world economy and daily life demonstrate how deeply dependent we
have become on these connections.
And even the U.S.-sponsored response against terrorism and all its form has gone beyond the historical standard reaction
of a great power under direct attack; it is more internationalist, multi-sectoral in its treatment of areas like migration and
finance, and much more conscious of human rights issues such as laws of war, refugees, and humanitarian assistance.

According to the United Nations Convention of Transnational Organized Crime (Article 3: 2), an offense is
transnational if it:

a. Is committed in more than one state;

b. Is committed in one state but a substantial part of its preparation, planning, direction or control takes place in
another state;

c. Is committed in one state but involves organized crime group that engages in criminal activities in more than
one state; or

d. Is committed in one state but has subs effects in another state.

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9372

This Act shall henceforth be known as the "Human Security Act of 2007

Sec. 3. Terrorism. - Any person who commits an act punishable under any of the following provisions of the Revised Penal
Code:

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a. Article 122, (Piracy in General and Mutiny in the High Seas or in the Philippine Waters);
b. Article 134, (Rebellion or Insurrection);
c. Article 134-a, (Coup d' Etat), including acts committed by private persons;
d. Article 248, (Murder);
e. Article 267, (Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention);
f. Article 324, (Crimes Involving Destruction), or under:
1. Presidential Decree No. 1613, (The Law on Arson);
2. Republic Act No. 6969, (Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990);
3. Republic Act No. 5207, (Atomic Energy Regulatory and Liability Act of 1968);
4. Republic Act No. 6235, (Anti-Hijacking Law);
5. Presidential Decree No. 532, (Anti-Piracy and Anti-Highway Robbery Law of 1974); and
6. Presidential Decree No. 1866, as amended (Decree Codifying the Laws on Illegal and Unlawful Possession,
Manufacture, Dealing in, Acquisition or Disposition of Firearms, Ammunitions or Explosives)
Thereby sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace, in
order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand shall be guilty of the crime of terrorism and shall suffer
the penalty of forty (40) years of imprisonment, without the benefit of parole as provided for under Act No. 4103, otherwise
known as the Indeterminate Sentence Law, as amended.
Sec. 18. Period of Detention Without Judicial Warrant of Arrest. - The provisions of Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code
to the contrary notwithstanding, any police or law enforcement personnel, who, having been duly authorized in writing by
the Anti-Terrorism Council has taken custody of a person charged with or suspected of the crime of terrorism or the crime
of conspiracy to commit terrorism shall, without incurring any criminal liability for delay in the delivery of detained persons
to the proper judicial authorities, deliver said charged or suspected person to the proper judicial authority within a period of
three days counted from the moment the said charged or suspected person has been apprehended or arrested, detained,
and taken into custody by the said police, or law enforcement personnel: Provided, That the arrest of those suspected of
the crime of terrorism or conspiracy to commit terrorism must result from the surveillance under Section 7 and
examination of bank deposits under Section 27 of this Act.
The police or law enforcement personnel concerned shall, before detaining the person suspected of the crime of
terrorism, present him or her before any judge at the latter's residence or office nearest the place where the arrest took
place at any time of the day or night. It shall be the duty of the judge, among other things, to ascertain the identity of the
police or law enforcement personnel and the person or persons they have arrested and presented before him or her, to
inquire of them the reasons why they have arrested the person and determine by questioning and personal observation
whether or not the suspect has been subjected to any physical, moral or psychological torture by whom and why. The
judge shall then submit a written report of what he/she had observed when the subject was brought before him to the
proper court that has jurisdiction over the case of the person thus arrested. The judge shall forthwith submit his/her report
within three calendar days from the time the suspect was brought to his/her residence or office.
Immediately after taking custody of a person charged with or suspected of the crime of terrorism or conspiracy to commit
terrorism, the police or law enforcement personnel shall notify in writing the judge of the court nearest the place of
apprehension or arrest: Provided, That where the arrest is made during Saturdays, Sundays, holidays or after office
hours, the written notice shall be served at the residence of the judge nearest the place where the accused was arrested.
The penalty of ten (10) years and one day to twelve (12) years of imprisonment shall be imposed upon the police or law
enforcement personnel who fails to notify and judge as Provided in the preceding paragraph.
Sec. 19. Period of Detention in the Event of an Actual or Imminent Terrorist Attack. In the event of an actual or imminent
terrorist attack, suspects may not be detained for more than three days without the written approval of a municipal, city,
provincial or regional official of a Human Rights Commission or judge of the municipal, regional trial court, the
Sandiganbayan or a justice of the Court of Appeals nearest the place of the arrest. If the arrest is made during Saturdays,
Sundays, holidays or after office hours, the arresting police or law enforcement personnel shall bring the person thus
arrested to the residence of any of the officials mentioned above that is nearest the place where the accused was
arrested. The approval in writing of any of the said officials shall be secured by the police or law enforcement personnel
concerned within five days after the date of the detention of the persons concerned: Provided, however, That within three
days after the detention the suspects, whose connection with the terror attack or threat is not established, shall be
released immediately.

Famous Terrorist Groups

Abu Sayyaf , ASG, Filipino: Grupong Abu Sayyaf) also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya [5] is one of several military
Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern Philippines, in Bangsamoro (Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga)
where for almost 30 years various Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the
country. The name of the group is derived from the Arabic , abu ("father of") and sayyaf ("Swordsmith[6]"). The group
calls itself "Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyya" or the "Islamic Movement".

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Al-Qaeda (Arabic: , al-qidah, Arabic: [lqd], English: /lkad/ al-KY-d, translation: "The Base" and
alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida) is a global militant Sunni Islamist group founded by Osama bin
Laden sometime between August 1988] and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless
army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad.
Al-Qaeda has attacked civilian and military targets in various countries, such as the 11 September attacks, 1998 US
embassy bombings and 2002 Bali bombings. The US government responded by launching the War on Terror. Al-Qaeda
has continued to exist and grew through the decade from 2001 to 2011.
Characteristic techniques include suicide attacks and simultaneous bombings of different targets. Activities ascribed to it
may involve members of the movement, who have taken a pledge of loyalty to Osama bin Laden, or the much more
numerous "al-Qaeda-linked" individuals who have undergone training in one of its camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq or
Sudan, but not taken any pledge.
Osama bin Laden was the most historically notable emir, or commander, and Senior Operations Chief of al-Qaida prior to
his assassination on 1 May 2011 by US forces. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's Deputy Operations Chief prior to bin
Laden's death, has assumed the role of commander as announced by al-Qaida on 16 June 2011, replacing Saif al-Adel,
who served as interim commander.
The origins of al-Qaeda as a network inspiring terrorism around the world and training operatives can be traced to the
Soviet War in Afghanistan (December 1979 February 1989). The U.S. viewed the conflict in Afghanistan, with the Afghan
Marxists and allied Soviet troops on one side and the native Afghan mujahideen, some of whom were radical Islamic
militants, on the other, as a blatant case of Soviet expansionism and aggression. The U.S. channeled funds through
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency to the Afghan Mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation in a CIA program
called Operation Cyclone.
Hezbollah (Arabic: h izbu-llh(i), literally "Party of God") is a Shi'a Muslim militant group and political party based in
Lebanon, and leads the March 8 Alliance, which withdrew from the government in January 2011 over its refusal to reject
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. It receives financial and political support from Iran and Syria, and its paramilitary wing is
regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds. Multiple countries, including
predominantly-Sunni Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, have condemned Hezbollah's actions. The
United States, the Netherlands United Kingdom, Egypt, Israel, Australia, and Canada classify Hezbollah as a terrorist
organization, in whole or in part
Hezbollah first emerged in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, during the Lebanese civil war. Its leaders
were inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini, and its forces were trained and organized by a contingent of Iranian Revolutionary
Guards. Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto listed its four main goals as "Israel's final departure from Lebanon as a prelude to its
final obliteration," ending "any imperialist power in Lebanon," submission of the Phalangists to "just rule" and bringing
them to trial for their crimes, and giving the people the chance to choose "with full freedom the system of government they
want," while not hiding its commitment to the rule of Islam. Hezbollah leaders have also made numerous statements
calling for the destruction of Israel, which they refer to as a "Zionist entity... built on lands wrested from their owners.
Jemaah Islamiah [1] (Arabic: , al-Jamat ul-Islmyatu, meaning "Islamic Congregation", frequently
abbreviated JI),[2] is a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization dedicated to the establishment of a Daulah Islamiyah [3]
(regional Islamic caliphate) in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and
Brunei.[4] JI was added to the United Nations 1267 Committee's list of terrorist organizations linked to al-Qaeda or the
Taliban on 25 October 2002[5] under UN Security Council Resolution 1267.
JI has its roots in Darul Islam (DI, meaning "House of Islam"), a radical Islamist/anti-colonialist movement in Indonesia in
the 1940s.[6] The JI was formally founded on January 1, 1993, by JI leaders, Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar[7]
while hiding in Malaysia from the persecution[8] of the Suharto government. After the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998,
both men returned to Indonesia[9] where JI gained a terrorist edge when one of its founders, the late Abdullah Sungkar,
established contact with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
JIs violent operations began during the communal conflicts in Maluku and Poso. It shifted its attention to targeting US and
Western interests in Indonesia and the wider Southeast Asian region since the start of the US-led war on terror. JIs terror
plans in Southeast Asia were exposed when its plot to set off several bombs in Singapore was foiled by the local
authorities.
Recruiting, training, indoctrination, financial and operational links between the JI and other militant groups, [ such as alQaeda, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Misuari Renegade/Breakaway Group
(MRG/MBG) and the Philippine Rajah Sulaiman movement (RSM) have existed for many years, and continue to this day.
Rajah Sulaiman movement is an organization in the Philippines, founded by Ahmed Santos in 1991. Its membership
consists of Filipino Christians who have converted to Islam and it is now one of the major conflicts in the Philippines. [2]
According to the Philippine government, the group's soldiers have been trained, financed and governed by Abu Sayyaf
and Jemaah Islamiah, a Philippine terrorist group with links to Al Qaeda.[2]

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The group is named after Rajah Sulaiman III, a 16th century Muslim chieftain of Manila who fought the Spaniards during
the colonization of the Philippines.[2] Similar to the Abu Sayyaf, the members belonging to this group claim they want to reestablished the Islamic government and its religion in the Philippines.
Drug Trafficking
On Drug Control
The Criminal Organizations and Drug Sub-Directorate is located within the Specialized Crime Directorate of the Interpol
General Secretariat. It is the central repository of professional and technical expertise in drug control within the Interpol
framework. Essentially, it acts as a clearing-house for the collection, collation, analysis and dissemination of drug-related
information. It monitors also the drug situation on global scale, coordinates international investigations, and maintains
liaison with the United Nations, its specialized agencies and other international and regional organizations involved in the
drug control activities. One of its important functions is to serve as a main source of professional and technical advice on
narcotic matters to Interpol bodies such as the General Assembly, Executive Committee and National Central Bureaus.
The mission of the Criminal Organizations and Drug Sub-Directorate is to enhance cooperation among member countries
and to stimulate the exchange of information between all national and international enforcement bodies concerned with
countering the illicit production, traffic and use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Drawing upon the wide
investigative and analytical experience of its multinational staff, the Sub-Directorate serves member states in the areas of:
1. Information collection,
2. Responding to international drug investigation enquiries,
3. Collection and analysis of data obtained from member states for strategic and tactical intelligence reports, and the
dissemination of these reports to concerned member states,
4. Identification of international drug trafficking organizations,
5. Coordination of international drug investigations where at least two member states are involved,
6. holding of working meetings involving two or more states where the Criminal Organizations and Drug Sub-Directorate
has identified common links in cases being investigated in those member countries in order to exchange information and
establish future strategies,
7. Organizing either regional or worldwide meetings on specific drug topics, on an annual or ad hoc basis. The aims of
such meetings include assessing the extent of the particular drug problem, the exchange of information on the latest
methods of investigative techniques and to further strengthen cooperation within the law enforcement communities.
Having a membership of countries places Interpol in a unique situation of knowing what is going on around the world in
relation to drug trafficking. It offers the possibility of making links between drug cases being conducted by national
administrations which would otherwise seem unrelated. When it is clearly established that there is good potential for
developing a substantial case, it is given an operational name. As the case is developed, a working meeting of the
concerned countries can be organized to bring together all of the case officers concerned to discuss all aspects of the
case and to devise a future strategy. The case officers bring with them information such as fingerprints, photographs,
identity documents, telephone numbers, addresses, criminal histories and any other information related to the case in
which they are involved.
Money Laundering
Money laundering is generally regarded as the practice of engaging in financial transactions to conceal the identity,
source, and/or destination of illegally gained money by which the proceeds of crime are converted into assets which
appear to have a legitimate origin. It is common to refer to money legally obtained as clean, and money illegally obtained
as dirty.

Money laundering occurs over a period of three steps:

the first involves the physical distribution of the cash (placement),

the second involves carrying out complex financial transactions in order to camouflage the illegal source
(layering), and

the final step entails acquiring wealth generated from the transactions of the illicit funds (integration).

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RA 9160
This Act shall be known as the "Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001."
Creation of Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). The Anti-Money Laundering Council is hereby created and shall be
composed of the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as chairman, the Commissioner of the Insurance
Commission and the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission as members.
Covered transaction" is a single, series, or combination of transactions involving a total amount in excess of Four Million
Philippine pesos (PhP4,000,000.00) or an equivalent amount in foreign currency based on the prevailing exchange rate
within five (5) consecutive banking days except those between a covered institution and a person who, at the time of the
transaction was a properly identified client and the amount is commensurate with the business or financial capacity of the
client; or those with an underlying legal or trade obligation, purpose, origin or economic justification.
Sec. 10. Authority to Freeze. Upon determination that probable cause exists that any deposit or similar account is in any
way related to an unlawful activity, the AMLC may issue a freeze order, which shall be effective immediately, on the
account for a period not exceeding fifteen (15) days. Notice to the depositor that his account has been frozen shall be
issued simultaneously with the issuance of the freeze order. The depositor shall have seventy-two (72) hours upon receipt
of the notice to explain why the freeze order should be lifted. The AMLC has seventy-two (72) hours to dispose of the
depositors explanation. If it fails to act within seventy-two (72) hours from receipt of the depositors explanation, the
freeze order shall automatically be dissolved. The fifteen (15)-day freeze order of the AMLC may be extended upon order
of the court, provided that the fifteen (15)-day period shall be tolled pending the courts decision to extend the period.
No court shall issue a temporary restraining order or writ of injunction against any freeze order issued by the AMLC except
the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.
Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced
labor: a modern-day form of slavery.

Adopted by the United Nations in Palermo, Italy in 2000, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons, especially Women and Children (also referred to as the Trafficking Protocol) is an international set of
diplomatic guidelines established by the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The
Trafficking Protocol is one of three Protocols adopted to supplement the Convention.

Trafficking in persons - shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of
the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a
position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having
control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of
the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to
slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
Different definitions and expressions are used to describe smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings. Interpol
does not have its own definitions for these issues. Consequently, reference was made to the definitions in the protocols
supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.
These definitions are as follows:
Smuggling of migrants - shall mean the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material
benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident.
Trafficking in persons - shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of
the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a
position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having
control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of
the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to
slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

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REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9208
Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003
Acts of Trafficking in Persons. - It shall be unlawful for any person, natural or juridical, to commit any of the following acts:

(a) To recruit, transport, transfer; harbor, provide, or receive a person by any means, including those done under the
pretext of domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography,
sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
(b) To introduce or match for money, profit, or material, economic or other consideration, any person or, as provided for
under Republic Act No. 6955, any Filipino woman to a foreign national, for marriage for the purpose of acquiring, buying,
offering, selling or trading him/her to engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery,
involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
(c) To offer or contract marriage, real or simulated, for the purpose of acquiring, buying, offering, selling, or trading them to
engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor or slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
(d) To undertake or organize tours and travel plans consisting of tourism packages or activities for the purpose of utilizing
and offering persons for prostitution, pornography or sexual exploitation;
(e) To maintain or hire a person to engage in prostitution or pornography;
(f) To adopt or facilitate the adoption of persons for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced
labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
(g) To recruit, hire, adopt, transport or abduct a person, by means of threat or use of force, fraud, deceit, violence,
coercion, or intimidation for the purpose of removal or sale of organs of said person; and
(h) To recruit, transport or adopt a child to engage in armed activities in the Philippines or abroad.
Sec. 5. Acts that Promote Trafficking in Persons. - The following acts which promote or facilitate trafficking in persons,
shall be unlawful:

(a) To knowingly lease or sublease, use or allow to be used any house, building or establishment for the purpose of
promoting trafficking in persons;
(b) To produce, print and issue or distribute unissued, tampered or fake counseling certificates, registration stickers and
certificates of any government agency which issues these certificates and stickers as proof of compliance with
government regulatory and pre-departure requirements for the purpose of promoting trafficking in persons;
(c) To advertise, publish, print, broadcast or distribute, or cause the advertisement, publication, printing, broadcasting or
distribution by any means, including the use of information technology and the internet, of any brochure, flyer, or any
propaganda material that promotes trafficking in persons;
(d) To assist in the conduct of misrepresentation or fraud for purposes of facilitating the acquisition of clearances and
necessary exit documents from government agencies that are mandated to provide pre-departure registration and
services for departing persons for the purpose of promoting trafficking in persons;
(e) To facilitate, assist or help in the exit and entry of persons from/to the country at international and local airports,
territorial boundaries and seaports who are in possession of unissued, tampered or fraudulent travel documents for the
purpose of promoting trafficking in persons;
(f) To confiscate, conceal, or destroy the passport, travel documents, or personal documents or belongings of trafficked
persons in furtherance of trafficking or to prevent them from leaving the country or seeking redress from the government
or appropriate agencies; and
(g) To knowingly benefit from, financial or otherwise, or make use of, the labor or services of a person held to a condition
of involuntary servitude, forced labor, or slavery.
Sec. 6. Qualified Trafficking in Persons. - The following are considered as qualified trafficking:

(a) When the trafficked person is a child;

(b) When the adoption is effected through Republic Act No. 8043, otherwise known as the "Inter-Country Adoption Act of
1995" and said adoption is for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery,
involuntary servitude or debt bondage;
(c) When the crime is committed by a syndicate, or in large scale. Trafficking is deemed committed by a syndicate if
carried out by a group of three (3) or more persons conspiring or confederating with one another. It is deemed committed
in large scale if committed against three (3) or more persons, individually or as a group;
(d) When the offender is an ascendant, parent, sibling, guardian or a person who exercises authority over the trafficked
person or when the offense is committed by a public officer or employee;
(e) When the trafficked person is recruited to engage in prostitution with any member of the military or law enforcement
agencies;
(f) When the offender is a member of the military or law enforcement agencies; and
(g) When by reason or on occasion of the act of trafficking in persons, the offended party dies, becomes insane, suffers
mutilation or is afflicted with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Sec. 6. Confidentiality. - At any stage of the investigation, prosecution and trial of an offense under this Act, law
enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, court personnel and medical practitioners, as well as parties to the case, shall
recognize the right to privacy of the trafficked person and the accused. Towards this end, law enforcement officers,
prosecutors and judges to whom the complaint has been referred may, whenever necessary to ensure a fair and impartial
proceeding, and after considering all circumstances for the best interest of the parties, order a closed-door investigation,

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prosecution or trial. The name and personal circumstances of the trafficked person or of the accused, or any other
information tending to establish their identities and such circumstances or information shall not be disclosed to the public.
In cases when prosecution or trial is conducted behind closed-doors, it shall be unlawful for any editor, publisher, and
reporter or columnist in case of printed materials, announcer or producer in case of television and radio, producer and
director of a film in case of the movie industry, or any person utilizing tri-media facilities or information technology to cause
publicity of any case of trafficking in persons.
Sec. 8. Prosecution of Cases. - Any person who has personal knowledge of the commission of any offense under this Act,
the trafficked person, the parents, spouse, siblings, children or legal guardian may file a complaint for trafficking.
Sec. 9. Venue. - A criminal action arising from violation of this Act shall be filed where the offense was committed, or
where any of its elements occurred, or where the trafficked person actually resides at the time of the commission of the
offense: Provided, That the court where the criminal action is first filed shall acquire jurisdiction to the exclusion of other
courts.
Sec. 10. Penalties and Sanctions. - The following penalties and sanctions are hereby established for the offenses
enumerated in this Act:
(a) Any person found guilty of committing any of the acts enumerated in Sec. 4 shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of
twenty (20) years and a fine of not less than One million pesos (P1,000,000.00) but not more than Two million pesos
(P2,000,000.00);
(b) Any person found guilty of committing any of the acts enumerated in Sec. 5 shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of
fifteen (15) years and a fine of not less than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) but not more than One million
pesos (P1,000,000.00);
(c) Any person found guilty of qualified trafficking under Sec. 6 shall suffer the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of
not less than Two million pesos (P2,000,000.00) but not more than Five million pesos (P5,000,000.00);
(d) Any person who violates Sec. 7 hereof shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of six (6) years and a fine of not less
than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) but not more than One million pesos (P1,000,000.00);
(e) If the offender is a corporation, partnership, association, club, establishment or any juridical person, the penalty shall
be imposed upon the owner, president, partner, manager, and/or any responsible officer who participated in the
commission of the crime or who shall have knowingly permitted or failed to prevent its commission;
(f) The registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and license to operate of the erring agency,
corporation, association, religious group, tour or travel agent, club or establishment, or any place of entertainment shall be
cancelled and revoked permanently. The owner, president, partner or manager thereof shall not be allowed to operate
similar establishments in a different name;
(g) If the offender is a foreigner, he shall be immediately deported after serving his sentence and be barred permanently
from entering the country;
(h) Any employee or official of government agencies who shall issue or approve the issuance of travel exit clearances,
passports, registration certificates, counseling certificates, marriage license, and other similar documents to persons,
whether juridical or natural, recruitment agencies, establishments or other individuals or groups, who fail to observe the
prescribed procedures and the requirement as provided for by laws, rules and regulations, shall be held administratively
liable, without prejudice to criminal liability under this Act. The concerned government official or employee shall, upon
conviction, be dismissed from the service and be barred permanently to hold public office. His/her retirement and other
benefits shall likewise be forfeited; and
(i) Conviction by final judgment of the adopter for any offense under this Act shall result in the immediate rescission of the
decree of adoption.
Sec. 11. Use of Trafficked Persons. - Any person who buys or engages the services of trafficked persons for prostitution
shall be penalized as follows:
(a) First offense - six (6) months of community service as may be determined by the court and a fine of Fifty thousand
pesos (P50,000.00); and
(b) Second and subsequent offenses - imprisonment of one (1) year and a fine of One hundred thousand pesos
(P100,000.00).
Sec. 12. Prescriptive Period. - Trafficking cases under this Act shall prescribe in ten (10) years: Provided, however, That
trafficking cases committed by a syndicate or in a large scale as defined under Sec. 6 shall prescribe in twenty (20) years.

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S6.2.5 Cyber Crime
Interpols contribution to combating Information Technology Crime
Interpol has actively been involved for a number of years in combating Information Technology Crime. Rather than reinventing the wheel, the Interpol General Secretariat has harnessed the expertise of its members in the field of
Information Technology Crime (ITC) through the vehicle of a working party or a group of experts. ln this instance, the
working party consists of the heads or experienced members of national computer crime units. These working parties
have been designed to reflect regional expertise and exist in Europe, Asia, and America and in Africa. All working parties
are in different stages of development. It should be noted that the work done by the working parties is not Interpols only
contribution to combating ITC, but it certainly represents the most noteworthy contribution.

Computer crime encompasses a broad range of potentially illegal activities. Generally, however, it may be divided
into one of two types of categories:

(1) crimes that target computer networks or devices directly;

(2) crimes facilitated by computer networks or devices, the primary target of which is independent of the computer
network or device. Examples of crimes that primarily target computer networks or devices would include:

Computer viruses

Denial-of-service attacks

Malware (malicious code)

Examples of crimes that merely use computer networks or devices would include:

Cyberstalking

Fraud and identity theft

Information warfare

Phishing scams
Republic Act No. 8792

This Act shall be known as the Electronic Commerce Act.

Sec. 5. Definition of Terms. For the purposes of this Act, the following terms are defined, as follows:
Addressee refers to a person who is intended by the originator to receive the electronic data message or electronic
document. The term does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to that electronic data message or
electronic document.
Computer refers to any device or apparatus which, by electronic, electro-mechanical or magnetic impulse, or by other
means, is capable of receiving, recording, transmitting, storing, processing, retrieving, or producing information, data,
figures, symbols or other modes of written expression according to mathematical and logical rules or of performing any
one or more of those functions.
Electronic Data message refers to information generated, sent, received or stored by electronic, optical or similar means.
Information and communication system refers to a system intended for and capable of generating, sending, receiving,
storing or otherwise processing electronic data messages or electronic documents and includes the computer system or
other similar device by or in which data is recorded or stored and any procedures related to the recording or storage of
electronic data message or electronic document.
Electronic signature refers to any distinctive mark, characteristic and/or sound in electronic form, representing the identity
of a person and attached to or logically associated with the electronic data message or electronic document or any
methodology or procedures employed or adopted by a person and executed or adopted by such person with the intention
of authenticating or approving an electronic data message or electronic document.
Electronic document refers to information or the representation of information, data, figures, symbols or other modes of
written expression, described or however represented, by which a right is established or an obligation extinguished, or by
which a fact may be proved and affirmed, which is received, recorded, transmitted, stored, processed, retrieved or
produced electronically.

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Electronic key refers to a secret code which secures and defends sensitive information that crosses over public channels
into a form decipherable only with a matching electronic key.

Intermediary refers to a person who in behalf of another person and with respect to a particular electronic document
sends, receives and/or stores or provides other services in respect of that electronic document.
Originator refers to a person by whom, or on whose behalf, the electronic document purports to have been created,
generated and/or sent . The term does not include a person acting as an intermediary with respect to that electronic
document.
Such service providers shall have no authority to modify or alter the content of the electronic data message or electronic
document received or to make any entry therein on behalf of the originator, addressee or any third party unless
specifically authorized to do so, and who shall retain the electronic document in accordance with the specific request or as
necessary for the purpose of performing the services it was engaged to perform.
LEGAL RECOGNITION OF ELECTRONIC WRITING OR DOCUMENT AND DATA MESSAGES
Sec. 6. Legal Recognition of Data Messages. Information shall not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely
on the grounds that it is in the data message purporting to give rise to such legal effect, or that it is merely referred to in
that electronic data message.
Sec. 7. Legal Recognition of Electronic Documents. Electronic documents shall have the legal effect, validity or
enforceability as any other document or legal writing, and (a) Where the law requires a document to be in writing, that requirement is met by an electronic document if the said
electronic document maintains its integrity and reliability and can be authenticated so as to be usable for subsequent
reference, in that (i) The electronic document has remained complete and unaltered, apart from the addition of any endorsement and any
authorized change, or any change which arises in the normal course of communication, storage and display; and
(ii) The electronic document is reliable in the light of the purpose for which it was generated and in the light of all the
relevant circumstances.
(b) Paragraph (a) applies whether the requirement therein is in the form of an obligation or whether the law simply
provides consequences for the document not being presented or retained in its original form.
(c) Where the law requires that a document be presented or retained in its original form, that requirement is met by an
electronic document if (i) There exists a reliable assurance as to the integrity of the document from the time when it was first generated in its
final form; and
(ii) That document is capable of being displayed to the person to whom it is to be presented: Provided, That no provision
of this Act shall apply to vary any and all requirements of existing laws on formalities required in the execution of
documents for their validity.
For evidentiary purposes, an electronic document shall be the functional equivalent of a written document under existing
laws.
Republic Act No. 9995
AN ACT DEFINING AND PENALIZING THE CRIME OF PHOTO AND VIDEO VOYEURISM, PRESCRIBING
PENALTIES THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Prohibited Acts. - It is hereby prohibited and declared unlawful for any person:
(a) To take photo or video coverage of a person or group of persons performing sexual act or any similar activity
or to capture an image of the private area of a person/s such as the naked or undergarment clad genitals, public
area, buttocks or female breast without the consent of the person/s involved and under circumstances in which
the person/s has/have a reasonable expectation of privacy;
(b) To copy or reproduce, or to cause to be copied or reproduced, such photo or video or recording of sexual act
or any similar activity with or without consideration;

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(c) To sell or distribute, or cause to be sold or distributed, such photo or video or recording of sexual act, whether
it be the original copy or reproduction thereof; or
(d) To publish or broadcast, or cause to be published or broadcast, whether in print or broadcast media, or show
or exhibit the photo or video coverage or recordings of such sexual act or any similar activity through VCD/DVD,
internet, cellular phones and other similar means or device.
The prohibition under paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) shall apply notwithstanding that consent to record or take photo or video
coverage of the same was given by such person/s. Any person who violates this provision shall be liable for photo or
video voyeurism as defined herein.
Section 5. Penalties. - The penalty of imprisonment of not less that three (3) years but not more than seven (7) years and
a fine of not less than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00) but not more than Five hundred thousand pesos
(P500,000.00), or both, at the discretion of the court shall be imposed upon any person found guilty of violating Section 4
of this Act.
If the violator is a juridical person, its license or franchise shall be automatically be deemed revoked and the persons
liable shall be the officers thereof including the editor and reporter in the case of print media, and the station manager,
editor and broadcaster in the case of a broadcast media.
If the offender is a public officer or employee, or a professional, he/she shall be administratively liable.
If the offender is an alien, he/she shall be subject to deportation proceedings after serving his/her sentence and payment
of fines.
Section 6. Exemption. - Nothing contained in this Act, however, shall render it unlawful or punishable for any peace
officer, who is authorized by a written order of the court, to use the record or any copy thereof as evidence in any civil,
criminal investigation or trial of the crime of photo or video voyeurism: Provided, That such written order shall only be
issued or granted upon written application and the examination under oath or affirmation of the applicant and the
witnesses he/she may produce, and upon showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that photo or video
voyeurism has been committed or is about to be committed, and that the evidence to be obtained is essential to the
conviction of any person for, or to the solution or prevention of such, crime.
Section 7. Inadmissibility of Evidence. - Any record, photo or video, or copy thereof, obtained or secured by any person in
violation of the preceding sections shall not be admissible in evidence in any judicial, quasi-judicial, legislative or
administrative hearing or investigation.
Selected Police Models
National Police Agency (Japan)
National Police Agency (Japan)

The National Police Agency is an agency administered by the National Public Safety Commission of the Cabinet
Office in the cabinet of Japan, and is the central coordinating agency of the Japanese police system.

Unlike comparable bodies like the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the NPA does not have any police officers
of its own.

Instead, its role is to determine general standards and policies, although in national emergencies or large-scale
disasters the agency is authorized to take command of prefectural police forces. Policy for the NPA in turn is set
by the National Public Safety Commission.

Japan National Police Agency = a totally gunless police force, except for its special attack team.

Japanese Colonial Government the one which organize the first formal policing in China.

Koban = a system of policing adopted in Japan

Commissioner General The highest ranking member of the Japan National Police Agency.

Kbans are substations near major transportation hubs and shopping areas and in residential districtsform the
first line of police response to the public.

The Koban system is composed of about 6000 police boxes (Koban) and about 7000 residential police boxes
(Chuzaisho).

Koban is staffed by relatively small number of police officers (3-5 officers in usual), and also Chuzaisho is usually
staffed by a single officer. About 20 percent of the total police force is assigned to koban.

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Staffed by officers working in eight-hour shifts, they serve as a base for foot patrols and usually have both
sleeping and eating facilities for officers on duty but not on watch. In rural areas, residential offices usually are
staffed by one police officer who resides in adjacent family quarters.

These officers endeavor to become a part of the community, and their families often aid in performing official
tasks.

The Singapore Police Force (Abbreviation: SPF; Chinese: ;) is the main agency tasked with
maintaining law and order in the city-state.

Formerly known as the Republic of Singapore Police (Abbreviation: RSP; It has grown from an 11-man
organisation to a 38,587 strong force.

It enjoys a relatively positive public image, and is credited for helping to arrest Singapore's civic unrests and
lawlessness in its early years, and maintaining the low crime rate today despite having a smaller police-citizen
ratio compared to other major cities.

Singapore has been ranked consistently in the top five positions in the Global Competitiveness Report in terms of
its reliability of police services.

Ranks
Constable
Special Constable
Lance Corporal
Corporal
Sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Senior Staff Sergeant
Inspector
Chief Inspector
Assistant Superintendent
Deputy Superintendent
Superintendent
Deputy Assistant Commissioner
Assistant Commissioner
Senior Assistant Commissioner
Deputy Commissioner of Police
Commissioner of Police
The Royal Thai Police (Thai: ) are the national police of Thailand.

The Thai police are subdivided into several regions and services, each enjoying their own powers.

Agency overview

Formed:

1933

Jurisdiction:

National

Headquarters: Bangkok

Annual budget 62,510,611,700 Baht (2008)

Agency executive

Police General Patheep Tanprasert, Acting Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police

Hong Kong Police

The Force is commanded by the Commissioner of Police who is assisted by two deputy commissioners - a "Deputy
Commissioner - Operations" supervises all operational matters including crime - and a "Deputy Commissioner Management" is responsible for the direction and coordination of the force management including personnel, training and
management services. The Hong Kong Police College is responsible for all matters relating to training within the Hong
Kong Police except internal security, Auxiliary and Marine Police training.
Training provided by the Police College includes recruit and continuation training, crime investigation training, police driver
training and weapon tactics training. The information technology training, command training, local and overseas

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management training, some specialist courses and periodic courses on firearms and first aid are also provided by the
Police College.
The HKPF continues to use similar ranks and insignia to those used in British police forces. Until 1997, the St Edward's
Crown was used in the insignia, when it was replaced with the Bauhinia flower crest of the Hong Kong government.
Ranks
Commissioner of Police (CP)
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP)
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP)
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP)
Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP)
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)
Superintendent of Police (SP)
Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) (insignia of a Captain)
Senior Inspector of Police (SIP)
Inspector of Police (IP)
Probationary Inspector of Police (PI)
Station Sergeant (SSGT)
Sergeant (SGT)
Senior Constable (SPC)
Police Constable (PC)
National Police Agency
(Republic of China) Taiwan
The National Police Agency is an agency under the Ministry of the Interior, Republic of China (Taiwan), which oversees all
Taiwan police forces on a national level. The National Police Agency is headquartered in Taipei City. Most actual law
enforcement and day-to-day policing duties are delegated to local police departments on a city and county level which
answer to the NPA but are considered agencies of their local government. However the NPA has direct control over
several specialized units which may be deployed to assist local forces, as well as the national highway patrol.
Unlike the police system in USA, the central government appoints the head positions of city and county Police
Departments in Taiwan and thus forms a solid chain of command for all police personnel.
By calling a personnel review board, the Director-General of NPA has the full control of personnel rotation and transfer, as
well as administrative commendations and reprimands over all high ranking police officers, including chiefs of local police
departments.
Ranks
Police Rank 4
Police Rank 3
Police Rank 2
Police Rank 1
Police Officer Rank 4 (Inspector)(Sub-Lieutenant)
Police Officer Rank 3(Senior inspector)(Captain)
Police Officer Rank 2 (Superintendent)
Police Officer Rank 1 (Senior Superintendent)
Police Supervisor Rank 4 (Superintendent General)
Police Supervisor Rank 3
Police Supervisor Rank 2
Police Supervisor Rank 1
Police Supervisor Rank Supreme (Police General)
People's Police of Vietnam
Functions
The People's Police of Vietnam prevents and investigates crime, as well as traffic control and other duties.
Branches
The People's Police of Vietnam have 2 branches:
The public security
The police force
Highest Rank (Army Forces)
i Tng (General)
Thng Tng (Senior Lieutenant General)
Trung Tng (Lieutenant General)
Thiu Tng (Major General)
Middle-ranking and Low-ranking Officers
i T (Colonel)
Thng T (Senior Lieutenant Colonel)
Trung T (Lieutenant Colonel)
Thiu T(Major)
i y (Captain)
Thng y (Senior Lieutenant)

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Trung y (Lieutenant)
Thiu y (Junior Lieutenant)
Royal Malaysia Police
The Royal Malaysia Police (Abbreviation: RMP; Malay: Polis Diraja Malaysia, PDRM;) is a part of the security forces
structure in Malaysia. The force is a centralized organization with responsibilities ranging from traffic control to intelligence
gathering. Its headquarters is located at Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur. The police force is led by an Inspector-General of
Police (IGP).
In carrying out its responsibilities, the regular RMP is also assisted by a support group comprising of Extra Police
Constables, Police Volunteer Reserves, Auxiliary Police, Police Cadets and a civilian service element.
Rakan Cop is a community outreach programme launched in 9 August 2005
Ranks
Inspector-General of Police (IGP)
Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIGP)
Commissioner of Police (CP)
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP)
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police I (SAC I)
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police II (SAC II)
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP)
Superintendents
Superintendent of Police (SP)
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP)
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP)
Inspectors
Chief Inspector (C/Insp)
Non-gazetted Officers
Inspectors
Chief Inspector (C/Insp)
Inspector (Insp)
Probationary Inspector (P/Insp)
Rank In File Officers
Subordinate Officers
Sub-Inspector (SI)
Sergeant Major (SM)
Sergeant (Sgt)
Corporal (Cpl)
Lance Corporal (L/Cpl)
Constable (PC)
Indonesian National Police
The Indonesian National Police (Indonesian: Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia) is the official police force for
Indonesia. The police were formally separated from the military in April 1999, a process which was formally completed in
July 2000. With 150,000 personnel, the police form a much smaller portion of the population than in most nations.
The total number of national and local police in 2006 was approximately 470,000.
In the early years, the Polri used European police style ranks like inspector and commissioner. When the police were
included into the military structure during the 1960s, the ranks changed to a military style such as Captain, Major and
Colonel. In the year 2000, when the Polri conducted the transition to a fully independent force out of the armed forces
2000, they use British style police ranks like Inspector and Superintendent. The Polri have returned to Dutch style ranks
just like in the early years.
High ranking officers
Police General / Jenderal Polisi (Jend. Pol.) - equivalent General in the army
Police Commissioner General / Komisaris Jenderal Polisi (Komjen Pol.) - equivalent Lieutenant General
Police Inspector General / Inspektur Jenderal Polisi (Irjen Pol.) - equivalent Major General
Police Brigadier General / Brigadir Jenderal Polisi (Brigjen Pol.) - equivalent Brigadier General

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Mid rank officers
Police Grand Commissioner / Komisaris Besar Polisi (Kombespol) - equivalent Colonel
Police Grand Commissioner Adjutant / Ajun Komisaris Besar Polisi (AKBP) - equivalent Lieutenant Colonel
Police Commissioner / Komisaris Polisi (Kompol) - equivalent Major
Low rank officers
Police Commissioner Adjutant / Ajun Komisaris Polisi (AKP) - equivalent Captain
First Police Inspector / Inspektur Polisi Satu (Iptu) - equivalent First Lieutenant
Second Police Inspector / Inspektur Polisi Dua (Ipda) - equivalent Second Lieutenant
Warrant officers
First Police Inspector Adjutant / Ajun Inspektur Polisi Satu (Aiptu) - equivalent Chief Warrant Officer
Second Police Inspector Adjutant / Ajun Inspektur Polisi Dua (Aipda) - equivalent Warrant Officer
Non-commissioned officers
Chief Police Brigadier / Brigadir Polisi Kepala (Bripka) - equivalent Sergeant Major
Police Brigadier / Brigadir Polisi (Brigadir) - equivalent Chief Sergeant
First Police Brigadier / Brigadir Polisi Satu (Briptu) - equivalent First Sergeant
Second Police Brigadier / Brigadir Polisi Dua (Bripda) - equivalent Second Sergeant
Enlisted
Police Brigadier Adjutant / Ajun Brigadir Polisi (Abrip) - equivalent Chief Corporal
First Police Brigadier Adjutant / Ajun Brigadir Polisi Satu (Abriptu) - equivalent First Corporal
Second Police Brigadier Adjutant / Ajun Brigadir Polisi Dua (Abripda) - equivalent Second Corporal
Chief Bhayangkara / Bhayangkara Kepala (Bharaka) - equivalent Chief Private
First Bhayangkara / Bhayangkara Satu (Bharatu) - equivalent Private First Class
Second Bhayangkara / Bhayangkara Dua (Bharada) - equivalent Private
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces
its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of Australia's six precursor British
self-governing colonies in 1901.
The AFP was formed on October 19, 1979 under the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 after the merging of the former
Commonwealth Police and the Australian Capital Territory Police.
In November 1979, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics of the Australian Customs Service was transferred to the new agency.
In 1984 the Protective Service component of the AFP was separated forming the Australian Protective Service,
subsequently that government agency was transferred back to the AFP in 2004.
Constable / 1st Constable / Senior Constable
Sergeant / Senior Sergeant / Station Sergeant
Inspector / Superintendent
Commander
Assistant Commissioner
Deputy Commissioner
Commissioner
London Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London, excluding the
'square mile' of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police. The MPS also has significant
national responsibilities such as co-ordinating and leading on counter-terrorism matters and protection of the Royal Family
and senior figures of HM Government. At the end of February 2010, the MPS employed 33,258 police officers, 2,988
Special Constables, 14,332 police staff, and 4,520 Police Community Support Officers. This makes it the largest police
force within the United Kingdom by a significant margin. The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, known commonly
as Commissioner, is the overall operational leader of the force, responsible and accountable to the Metropolitan Police
Authority.
Newly employed PCs in the MPS are paid a starting salary of 28,605 rising to 31,176 after the initial training and
probationary period as of 1 September 2008. This continues to rise, with the amount of time the officer has served, rising
to a ceiling level of 39,373 after ten years.

Ranks

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Police Constable (PC) (Divisional call sign and shoulder number)
Sergeant (Sgt or PS) (three point down chevrons above divisional call sign and Shoulder Number) - an "acting" Sergeant,
i.e. a substantive constable being paid an allowance to undertake the duties of a sergeant for a short period of time,
displays two point down chevrons above divisional call sign, and Shoulder Number
Inspector (Insp) (two Order of the Bath stars, informally known as "pips")
Chief Inspector (Ch Insp) (three pips in a line)
Superintendent (Supt) (single crown)
Chief Superintendent (Ch Supt) (crown over one pip)
Commander (Cmdr) (crossed tipstaves in a bayleaf wreath); the first ACPO rank.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) (one pip over Commander's badge)
Assistant Commissioner (AC) (crown over Commander's badge);
Deputy Commissioner (crown above two side-by-side small pips, above Commander's badge)
Commissioner (crown above one pip above Commander's badge)
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the
United States,with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City.
The NYPD is one of the oldest police departments established in the United States. (Although, the Boston police
department was established some seven years earlier.) It has its headquarters in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
In June 2004, there were about 40,000 sworn officers plus several thousand support staff; In June 2005, that number
dropped to 35,000. As of November 2007, it had increased to slightly over 36,000 with the graduation of several classes
from the Police Academy. The NYPD's current authorized uniformed strength is 37,838. There are also approximately
4,500 Auxiliary Police Officers, 5,000 School Safety Agents, 2,300 Traffic Enforcement Agents, and 370 Traffic
Enforcement Supervisors currently employed by the department. After years of bitter wrangling that saw starting pay for
new officers fall to as low as $25,100 a year, the city and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association on August 21, 2008
reached agreement on a new four-year contract.
The contract, which runs from August 1, 2006 to July 31, 2010, gives police officers a 17 percent pay raise over its fouryear life, and raises starting pay from $35,881 to $41,975, and top pay from $65,382 to approximately $76,000 annually.
With longevity pay, holiday pay, night shift differential and other additions, the total annual compensation for officers
receiving top pay will be approximately $91,823, not including overtime. It should also be noted that this is the first
contract since 1994 the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the City of New York mutually agreed on without
involving a mediator.
The Role of INTERPOL
Interpol (1923) = (International Criminal Police Organization) is the police forces organization that primarily manifest
global or international cooperation in addressing transnational crime. Its headquarters was initially located in Vienna
Austria (it is where Interpol was founded) but at present it is transferred to Lyon France.
INTERPOL is the worlds largest international police organization, with 188 member countries. It exists to help create a
safer world by supporting law enforcement agencies worldwide to combat crime. It aims to facilitate international police
co-operation, and supports and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat
internal crime.
INTERPOL has four core functions, which provide:
Secure global police communications
Data services and databases for police
Support to police services
Police training and development
Ronald K. Noble = the current Secretary General of the General Secretariat serving a second term from 2005 - 2010.
INTERPOLs Governance = comprises the General Assembly and the Executive Committee, which is headed by the
President.
The President of the Organization is elected by the General Assembly for a period of four (4) years. His role is to chair the
General Assembly and Executive Committee and ensure that INTERPOLS activities conform with decisions made at
these meetings.

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Interpols Criminal Intelligence Analysis
Concept: Criminal Intelligence Analysis (sometimes called Crime Analysis) has been recognized by law enforcement as a
useful support tool for over twenty-five years and is successfully used within the international community. Within the last
decade, the role and position of Criminal Intelligence Analysis in the global law enforcement community has fundamentally
changed. Whereas, previously there were a few key countries acting as forerunners and promoters of the discipline, more
and more countries have implemented analytical techniques within their police forces. International organizations, such as
Interpol, Europol and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), all have Criminal Intelligence
Analysts among their personnel. The techniques are also widely used within private sector organizations.
Definition: There are many definitions of Criminal Intelligence Analysis in use throughout the world. The one definition
agreed in June 1992 by an international group of twelve European Interpol member countries and subsequently adopted
by other countries is as follows: The identification of and provision of insight into the relationship between crime data and
other potentially relevant data with a view to police and judicial practice.
Purpose: The central task of Analysis is to help officials - law enforcers, policy makers, and decision makers - deal more
effectively with uncertainty, to provide timely warning of threats, and to support operational activity by analyzing crime.
Divisions: Criminal Intelligence Analysis is divided into operational (or tactical) and strategic analysis. The basic skills
required are similar, and the difference lies in the level of detail and the type of client to whom the products are aimed.
1. Operational Analysis aims to achieve a specific law enforcement outcome. This might be arrests, seizure or forfeiture of
assets or money gained from criminal activities, or the disruption of a criminal group. Operational Analysis usually has a
more immediate benefit.
2. Strategic Analysis is intended to inform higher level decision making and the benefits are realized over the longer term.
It is usually aimed at managers and policy-makers rather than individual investigators. The intention is to provide early
warning of threats and to support senior decision-makers insetting priorities to prepare their organizations to be able to
deal with emerging criminal issues. This might mean allocating resources to different areas of crime, increased training in
a crime fighting technique, or taking steps to close a loophole in a process.
Both disciplines make use of a range of analytical techniques and analysts need to have a range of skills and attributes.
6.5 Bilateral and International Cooperation of Transnational Crime
6.5.1 UN Convention against Transnational Crimes
THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL CRIMES
The Convention represents a major step forward in the fight against transnational organized crime and signifies the
recognition of UN Member States that this is a serious and growing problem that can only be solved through close
international cooperation. The Convention, concluded at the 10th session of the Ad Hoc Committee established by the
General Assembly to deal with this problem, is a legally binding instrument committing States that ratify it to taking a
series of measures against transnational organized crime. These include the creation of domestic criminal offences to
combat the problem, and the adoption of new, sweeping frameworks for mutual legal assistance, extradition, lawenforcement cooperation and technical assistance and training.
States Parties will be able to rely on one another in investigating, prosecuting and punishing crimes committed by
organized criminal groups where either the crimes or the groups who commit them have some element of transnational
involvement. This should make it much more difficult for offenders and organized criminal groups to take advantage of
gaps in national law, jurisdictional problems or a lack of accurate information about the full scope of their activities.
The Convention deals with the fight against organized crime in general and some of the major activities in which
transnational organized crime is commonly involved, such as money laundering, corruption and the obstruction of
investigations or prosecutions. To supplement the Convention, two Protocols also tackle specific areas of transnational
organized crime that are of particular concern to UN Member States.
The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants deals with the growing problem of organized criminal groups who
smuggle migrants, often at high risk to the migrants and at great profit for the offenders. The Protocol against Trafficking in
Persons deals with the problem of modern slavery, in which the desire of people to seek a better life is taken advantage of
by organized criminal groups. Migrants are often confined or coerced into exploitive or oppressive forms of employment,
often in the sex trade or in dangerous occupations, with the illicit incomes generated from these activities going to
organized crime.
The Protocols also commit countries which ratify them to making the basic subject of the Protocol a criminal offence and
to adopting other specific measures, such as controls on travel documents, to combat the problem. These supplement the
more general measures found in the Convention, and countries must become parties to the Convention itself before they

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can become parties to any of the Protocols. A third Protocol, dealing with the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in
firearms, parts and components, and ammunition, remains under discussion.

United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and following protocols:
>Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
>Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and Sea, supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime
>Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition,
supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
Participation of PNP Personnel in UN Peacekeeping Missions
Peacekeeping is defined by the United Nations as "a unique and dynamic instrument developed by the Organization as a
way to help countries torn by conflict create the conditions for lasting peace.
Peacekeepers monitor and observe peace processes in post-conflict areas and assist ex-combatants in implementing the
peace agreements they may have signed. Such assistance comes in many forms, including confidence-building
measures, power-sharing arrangements, electoral support, strengthening the rule of law, and economic and social
development. Accordingly UN peacekeepers (often referred to as Blue Beret because of their light blue berets or helmets)
can include soldiers, police officers, and civilian personnel.
On 3 April 1992, fifteen months into its reconstitution, the PNP began sending its international contingent to peace support
operations and humanitarian relief missions in conflict areas around the world. Although most of these endeavors were
United Nations-launched, there were some deployments made under the "lead-nation" concept or as an initiative of the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines.
UN Peace Support Operations requiring UN Civilian Police services may be armed or unarmed peacekeeping, peacebuilding, or specialized efforts.
Selection and Qualifications Terms of Deployment
COVERAGE of the UNSAT PreQualifying
Examinations will be as follows:
1st Stage Written
Examination
(Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension,
Report Writing)
2nd Stage Driving
Proficiency Test
3rd Stage Firing
Proficiency Test.
QUALIFICATIONS
Age Requirement
All applicants must not be less than twenty five
(25) years old or more than
Fifty three(53) years old upon actual deployment.
An applicant shall be considered twenty five
(25) years of age on his/her actual
25th birthday, or more than fifty three
(53) years of age on his/her actual
54th birthday.
For Police Commissioned Officers (PCOs): Only those with the rank of Police Senior Inspector, Police Chief Inspector, or
Police Superintendent are allowed to apply.
For Police Noncommissioned Officers (PNCOs): Only those within the rank bracket of Police Officer 3 to Senior Police
Officer 4 are allowed to apply.
All applicants must have been appointed in permanent status in their respective present ranks.
All applicants must have attained a minimum of five (5) years of active police
service (excluding cadetship, officer orientation/trainee course, and police basic course) by the first day of the UNSAT
examinations.

Page 19 of 59

Physical Fitness Requirement

All applicants must have passed the latest Physical Fitness Test (PFT)
conducted by the PNP Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine
Development, as well as medical, dental, and neuropsychiatric
examinations.
Computer Literacy Requirement

All applicants must be knowledgeable of basic computer operations, including Word, Excel,
Powerpoint, and use of the Internet.
Driving Proficiency Requirement

All applicants must have at least one (1) year of recent driving experience and must possess a valid
national or international driver's license issued at least one (1) year prior to the first day of the UNSAT examinations.
Among the luminaries of the PNP Contingent is Police Director Rodolfo A Tor, who became the first Filipino police
commissioner of a UN operation. In 2006, he was tasked to head the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste, one of the
largest civilian police operations established by the UN. The PNP Contingent's first female member was
noncommissioned Senior Police Officer 2 Ester A Mardicas (deployed to East Timor in August 1999), while its first female
police commissioned officer was Police Inspector Aurisa I Mitra (deployed to Kosovo in July 2000).

MONEY LAUNDERING
I - INTRODUCTION
The establishment of organized crime groups in our society has become the mid-wife of another intricate web of
criminality. Its wide and long-ranging threats undermine the sovereignty of states, their economic stability, financial
structures and their criminal justice system. This is the transnational crime of Money Laundering which organized crime

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groups, from drug syndicates, arms trafficking and the other burgeoning areas of criminal activity, to perpetuate their
existence, expand their operations and institutionalize their presence in a mafia type fashion.

In capsule form, organized crime groups must launder their money from their crimes for two basic
reasons: First, the money trail itself can become the evidence against the perpetrators of the crime. Second,
the money itself can be the subject of suspicion, investigation and seizure. Money-laundering however, has
three dynamic stages:
1.

Moving the funds from direct association with the crime;

2.

Disguising the trail to foil pursuit;

3.

Making the money available to the criminal once again with its occupational and geographic
origins hidden from view.

For reason that money laundering and its implications have just recently reached worldwide awareness,
there are still several variants of definitions attributed to it. Among these are:

a. The manipulation of money from illicit sources through means that make the money appears to be from
legitimate sources.
b. The conversion or transfer of property knowing that such property is
derived from criminal offense, for
the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the property or assisting any person who is involved in
the commission of such offense, or offenses to evade legal consequence
of his action.
c. The concealment or disguise of the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement rights, with respect to
or ownership of property, knowing that such property is derived from a criminal offense.
d. The acquisition, possession or use of property knowing at the time of receipt that such property was derived
from a criminal offense or from an act of participation in such offense.
e. The movement of money derived by organized crime groups from their criminal activities to a semi-legal
business venture, reinvesting it further to a legitimate business until the trace of its criminally derived origin faded and
making the same proceeds available again for use by the organized crime groups.

In essence, the rule in successful money laundering is always to approximate as closely as possible
legal transactions and apply the methods routinely employed by legitimate businesses to disperse any
suspicion. In the hands of the criminals, they do transfer-pricing between affiliates of transnational corporations
via phony invoicing; inter-affiliate real estate transactions become reverse-flip property deals; back-to-back
loans turn into loan-back scams; hedge or insurance trading in stocks or options become method or crosstrading; and compensating balances develop into so-called underground banking schemes. On the surface, it
may be impossible to differentiate legal and illegal variants. The distinction becomes clear only once a
particular criminal act has been targeted and the authorities subsequently begin to unravel the money trail.
On the other hand, basic counter-measures developed in the international financial system and some
modern states have been directed toward the 3 F's, which stand for finding, freezing and forfeiture. Of these
three remedies, finding is the most difficult part for the law enforcement has to find the almost invisible link
between the underlying offenses, the criminal money derived from them and the ultimate long trails filtering its
way to legitimate businesses.
The rapid advancement of information technology and communication has created financial structures
perpetually operating under a global system. This system created the mega-byte money (i.e. money in the
form of symbols appearing on computer screens in millions or billions of dollars) which can move around the
world with split-second speed and ease. This development made monitoring, detection and prosecution of
money-laundering cases all the more difficult, if not next to impossible. The establishment of offshore banking
or financial structures and the enforcement of bank secrecy laws further complicated the tracking process and
provided an opportunal havens for drug syndicates and other organized crime groups. It created layers after
layers of disguise and obstacles carefully obliterating the money trail and building a Bermuda triangle in the
financial investigations.

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II - BRIEF HISTORY

Since necessity is the master of all inventions, man has devised a deceptive scheme to cover-up his
wrong doings. In the early 17th century, the Catholic Church decreed against the imposition of usurious rates
and considered it as a mortal sin compelling merchants and moneylenders to engaged in a variety of practices
that eventually become the precursors or models of modern techniques for hiding, moving and washing
criminal money. The main objective was to make interests disappear or appear to be something other than
what they were. One way was to artificially inflate the exchange rates to compensate for the supposed interest,
or imposed additional premiums for the business risks or as penalties for late payments.
Along the course of history, the evolution of money laundering activities could be traced to the era when
pirates preyed on European traders crossing the Atlantic sea and thereafter seek financial havens in which
they can luxuriously make use of the fruits of their criminal trade. They sought for financial havens where they
could be welcomed to spend their money, particularly when time has come for them to retire. Mediterranean
city-states competed to have the pirates as adopted residence of their domain. The pirates money boosted
their commerce and trade and provided additional income to their national coffer. In other instances, their loot
was sometimes used to buy pardons to permit them to return home. By the year 1612, the world witnessed the
first modern amnesty to criminal money when England offered pirates who abandoned their trade, both full
pardon and the right to keep their proceeds. Three and a half centuries later, the similar deals were requested
by prominent drug barons from Latin America like Columbia, Mexico and Italy.
Under the common law tradition of England, measures were already made anticipating our modern
laws today. Freezing and confiscation were then imposed on criminally derived income. This was justified as
necessary for deterring other subjects and as a good source of revenue for the Crown. Still, the idea of money
laundering has not yet found its niche in the statutes.
It is only in 1920s that the term money laundering emerged to have been coined in the United States,
when street gangs sought a seemingly legitimate explanation for the origins of their racket money. They tried to
find a way on how to hide their criminal money by venturing on car wash services, vending machines and
laundry services. It is in this context that the term money-laundering may have been coined. Literally, the idea
is to clean the dirty money and make it appear to have been sourced from a legitimate business.
The traditional focus was to go after the underlying offense generating the criminal money. The penalty
of seizure was imposed only as a punishment for the underlying crime committed. Law enforcement and
prosecution stop there and do not bother to pierce beyond the veil of the money laundering process. Today, the
trend is to criminalize the act of laundering money and to make the act of laundering completely independent
of the underlying offense. It started in the United States in 1986 and is progressing rapidly around the world,
though recognition of this phenomenon has not yet touched the awareness of some sovereign states. One
reason for delays and hesitations in some states in classifying money laundering as a crime is the difficulty in
convincing and demonstrating the harmful and wide-ranging effects of this new criminal dimension.
In Asia, it is heartening to note that during the 6th ASEAN Summit on 15 December 1998, various
countries have expressed recognition on transnational character of criminal activities, including the threats of
money-laundering.
III - THE MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEMES
Perhaps money laundering maybe illustrated with the tax evasion issue. Although they share some several techniques,
they undergo distinct operational process. In tax evasion, legally earned money are hidden or made to appear as nontaxable earnings, or operational business expenditures are bloated to avoid paying taxes or to reduce the same. Money
laundering on the other hand does the opposite. It takes illegally earned money and give it the appearance of a legitimate
business income. Thus, the crime group is more than willing to pay the proper tax due the government.

It may be illustrated further in the case of a prostitute. One is working in the streets accepting cash for
sexual services---the transaction is anonymous and it does not enter the national income accounts of the
country escaping both formal regulations and taxation. But consider a prostitute working through a front of
legally registered massage parlor or night clubs who is paid through checks or credit card---the transaction is
recorded and it enters the national economic statistics in a misreported way. Hence, it is subject to at least

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some degree of taxation. In the second case, the earnings are laundered---their nature is disguised, but their
existence is not hidden.
Or take the classic example of the racetrack betting, the launderer simply uses his illegal cash to
purchase winning tickets, probably paying the true winner a premium, and then presents the ticket for payment.
The funds can therefore be represent as legitimate earnings from authorized gambling. This technique is
historically used and is still applied today.
Or take the property deals for example. If someone would wash his money, he would purchase a
piece of property paying with formal bank instruments and legitimately earned money for a publicly recorded
price that is much below the real market value. The rest of the purchase price is paid with the criminal or illegal
money. The property is then resold for the full market value and the money recouped, with the illegal
component now appearing to be capital gains on a real estate transaction.
These illustrations may be considered as an over-simplification of the operational techniques employed
by supposed launderers, but these illustrations are utilized for us to have a clearer perspective on how this
scheme works in the simplest way. But in reality, organized crime groups applied the most sophisticated
methods, confusingly intricate and meticulously orchestrated to avoid any traces along the money trail.
Criteria for Techniques Applied

There is a variety of techniques being applied by organized crime groups in money-laundering depending
largely on the following criteria:
a. The immediate business environment.

The launderers assess the make profile of the normal business

transactions in the area and jurisdiction
they will operate. Their choice will
largely reflect the economic policies and financial principles being enforced
in the area of operation.

b. The orders of magnitude.

Small sums laundered periodically will require quite different

comparatively large amounts.

techniques than

c. The time factor.

The technique chosen will likely reflect the operation is once-and- for-all, or sporadic, event or
something to be conducted on an on-going basis. It will reflect as well the degree of which haste is
essential.
d. The amount of trust that can be accorded to complicit institutions and individual.
This requires judgement about how much potential partners and/or
accomplices have at stake in
cooperation or betrayal and where, on the
fear-greed tradeoff curve, they happen to be.

e. The record of law enforcement.

Laundering requires time and money. How much money and ener- gy will be put into the effort to multiply
levels of cover and obscure the
trail will depend on an assessment on how serious and effective police probes
are likely to be in the place or places where the process is
conducted.
f. The planned long-term disposition of the funds.

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Money maybe subjected to differing processes depending on whether it is designed for immediate
consumption, for savings in visible or invisible forms or for reinvestment.

It is a basic rule in criminal law that prosecution and conviction of the accused include the
forfeiture of the object of the crime particularly in the crimes against property or the confiscation of the
same in cases of prohibited or illegal items. More so, in the law of evidence these are the "corpus
delicti" or body of the crime itself. These are the very evidence which are needed in the prosecution and
conviction of the offenders.
Forfeiture of the fruits of the crime becomes more difficult when it undergoes the money-laundering
process. There is further difficulty if the state having jurisdiction of the underlying criminal offense has no
enforceable laws on money-laundering.

Money-laundering operations involve a dynamic three-stage process:

a. Moving funds from direct association with the crime.
The basic principle that is basically applied in every money-laundering operation is that the
illegal money is mixed with the legal and the entire sum is reported as the earnings of the legitimate
business.
These criminal groups therefore will devised a way to wash their criminal in such a manner
that its linkage with their criminal activities will ultimately be erased. The strategy is to engage in any
cash-based business venture because it leaves no traces of documents or any corroborative pieces of
evidence that will show any affiliation with illegal activities.
Among the favorite business fronts are bar and restaurants, video-cassette rentals, video
games outlets, car-washes and laundries and other establishments where the flow of cash money is
immediate and fastidiously in small amounts. It is worthy to note that more often than not, the cover
business is considered a semi-legal enterprise.
When the sums derived from these business fronts become larger and the law enforcement in the immediate
jurisdiction is seen as particularly dangerous, the laundering process will more likely to involve an international
dimension. At this point, the three stages of the money laundering process will come into play in a chronologically
distinct and logical manner.

In moving these funds from the country of origin, the organized crime groups either sidestep or
go through he normal banking process. If they sidestep, the idea is to ship the cash money in bulk,
which is the most popular method applied, or convert it to valuable items like gold, diamonds or other
precious gems and reconvert it into cash in the point of destination.
Although there has been counter-measures made by many countries by demanding reports or
declaration of all monetary instruments, the record of success is not very encouraging. Bulk cash,
particularly in large denomination can still be easily carried out of a country in a hand-luggage. The
dollarization of commercial transactions around the world has made the United States $100 bill the
most favorite because the currency is well-known and is universally accepted. The largest
denomination deutsche mark and the Swiss franc notes would qualify whereas the Singapore dollar,
available in $10,000 denominations, would probably used rarely and within a limited geographic area.
Even if controls on hand luggage are tightened, bulk cash can be easily moved through checked
personal luggage, particularly if the passenger travels by ship. It can also be stuffed into bulk
commercial containers whose sheer volume defeats any systematic efforts to monitor them.
Since these criminal groups will almost always avoid the risk of suspicion and identification, they
used professional couriers to handle the job and further guarantee delivery. And they are clever enough
to chose a courier that possesses diplomatic passport thereby affording partial immunity from search.
There are various lateral transfers that can be used to export money. They work through what
we call compensating balances which is a simple principle that has long been used in legitimate trade,
particularly when dealing with countries that have exchange controls and/or legally inconvertible
currencies.

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Illustration:
Assume Business I in country A owes $X to Business II in
country B;
Assume Business II in country B owes $X to Business III in
country A;
To settle the debts without compensating balancing:
Business I would ship $X to Business II
Business II would ship &X to Business III
This requires two international transfers and four distinct withdrawal and deposit transactions.
To settle the debt with compensating balance, all that happens is that Business I in country A
settles the debt owed by Business II to Business III in country A. There are only two banking
transactions, from the account of Business I to the account of Business II and no international transfers.
The worse part of it is that there financial brokers who specialized in arranging such transfers.
The mandatory requirements require by some jurisdictions, such as automatic reporting of sums
subject of cash transfer above certain threshold is schemingly defied by the launderers. What they do is
to break cash deposits below the ceiling control and make multiple transactions. They knew very well
that large deposits with no apparent justifications would potentially attract the attention of authorities.
Unlike the situation decade ago, so much attention has been focused on instances when banks
accepted a huge bundle of cash from unknown parties and either wired it abroad or converted it to
bearer instrument. Successful money-launderers today requires working through a front business, one
that has credible explanation for its level of deposits and --- equally important when the next stage of
money laundering begins is an equally credible explanation for moving the funds abroad.
b. Disguising the Trail to Foil any Pursuit.
The stage one of the laundering cycle metamorphosized into the stage two of the laundering
cycle when the money is already transferred abroad. This may appear to be too complex for us but
there is a simple structure that under lies almost all international money-laundering activities during this
stage.

The Swiss banks has become the traditional haven for many launderers over the decades
because of the protection afforded by its famed secrecy laws. Recently however, Swiss authorities has
signed treaties of cooperation in criminal investigation of other countries and moved actively and
rigorously to freeze suspect accounts in everything from embezzlement to insider trading to drug
trafficking cases. It has also legislated money-laundering as a crime per se. Our country has
encountered this when the money laundered by the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos has been
frozen and turned-over to the Philippine government for proper disposition awaiting the final decision on
the human rights violations cases filed against the Marcos estate.
Still, Switzerland has not lost its role financial haven for money-launderers only that the money
deposited has undergone pre-washing process elsewhere.
The idea is to establish a bank account abroad considered as financial haven under the name of
a corporation. The reason for this is that bank secrecy can be waived when there is a criminal
investigation, thereby avoiding personal identification of the organized crime groups behind the dummy
corporation. This stage becomes more comfortable because there are some jurisdictions that facilitate

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the establishment of an instant-corporation manufacturing business such as the Cayman Islands, the
British Virgin Islands, Liberia, Panama and many others. They sell offshore corporations that are
licensed to conduct business only outside the country of incorporation and are free of tax or regulation
and protected by corporate secrecy laws. Thus between the law enforcement authorities and the
launderer, there is one level of bank secrecy, one level of corporate secrecy and the additional
protection of client-attorney privilege especially when a lawyer in the corporate secrecy haven is
designated to establish and run the company which is now common even in our jurisdiction.
There is the additional layer of an offshore trust which is justified perfectly by legal reasons.
The advantage of a trust is that the owner of the assets conveys that ownership irrevocably to the
trustee and therefore prevents those assets from being seized by creditors. They are usually protected
by secrecy laws and further insulated by the flee clause which authorizes the trustee to shift the
domicile of the trust whenever threatened by civil war, civil unrest or even probes by law enforcement
authorities.

Another layer of secrecy is added when these offshore corporations capitalize their assets into
bearer shares converting the ownership thereof anywhere at anytime to no one.
Or they may resort to multiple systems of interlocking companies incorporated in different
places making it almost impossible to trace and forcing law enforcement to proceed from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction peeling layers after layers like that of an onion.
When the money has been moved through the international financial system and has sufficiently
made their origins and traces extremely difficult, if not impossible to identify, it is time to move them to
country of origin to be used and enjoyed again by the organized crime groups.
c. Making the Money Available to the Criminal once again with its Occupational and Geographic
Origins
are hidden from view.

Among the many techniques used in the final stage are the following:
1. Funds can be repatriated through a debit or credit card issued by an offshore bank.

Withdrawals from ATM machines or expenditures using the card can be settled either by automatic
deduction from foreign bank account or by the card holder periodically transferring the required funds from one
foreign bank to another. Debit cards are superior from the point of view of automaticity and confidentiality.
However, even an ordinary credit card can be turned into debit card by being secured through the deposit of
collateral with the issuing bank.
2. Bills incurred in the place of residence can be settled by an offshore bank or even more discreetly by
an offshore company.

Persons seeking to use illegal money at home held abroad need not bother to work through
their own offshore accounts and shell companies. There are firms that advertise their willingness all of
their clients major payments. The client makes a deposit from his/her offshore account to that firms
offshore account and sends bills or payment instructions to the firm.
The use of bankdrafts which are either sold outright by a bank or issued to an account holders against
the security of their current balance.

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Drafts do not show the name of the payee yet they are guaranteed by the bank, virtually making
them as good as cash. They are used for several transactions and redeemed by banks where they are
en-cashed and which have a correspondent relationship with the issuing bank. The draft then returned
and the issuing bank wired payment to the cashing bank, often in bulk to cover a number of drafts at
the same time, thus further obscuring the trail.
4.The use of payable-through account.

A foreign bank opens a correspondent master account with a bank in a host country and allows its client to
draw checks on the banks master account instead of securing a license to operate in one country. The account
remains legally in the name of the foreign bank.
5.

Money is disguised as casino winnings.

The money is wired from the criminals offshore bank account to a casino in some tourist center abroad.
The casino pays the money in chips; the chips are then cashed in; and the money is repatriated via a bank check,
money-order or wire transfer to the criminals domestic bank account where it can be explained as a result of
good luck during a gambling junket. This trick is used sporadically because winning too often will attract attention.
6.

Bogus capital gains on options trading where the onshore company records a capital gain and the
foreign one a capital loss.

The trick is to buy and sell a currency, commodity or stock option back and forth between
foreign and domestic companies. This works even better if the foreign company is incorporated in a
place with secrecy laws.
7.

The use of international real estate flips.

The criminal arranges to sell a piece of property to a foreign investor who is , in reality, the same
criminality working through one or several offshore companies. The sale price is suitably inflated above
acquisition cost, and the money is repatriated as capital gain on a smart real estate deal.
8.

The criminals arrange the transfer of funds as personal income by falsely representing himself as an
employee or consultant of his offshore company.

Personal in come is easy to arrange. The criminal has simply one or more of his offshore
companies hire him as an employee or, better, as a consultant. He then pays himself a handsome
salary or generous consulting fees, as well as probably a company car or a condominium in a prime
location, out of the offshore nest-egg.
9.

The criminal may set up a domestic corporation and have it billed as an offshore company
for goods sold or services rendered making it appear that the money repatriated as business
income.

10. Bringing the money home as a business loan to the criminals onshore entity.

This is probably the neatest solution of all. The criminal arranges for money held in an offshore
account to be lent to his onshore entity. Not only is the money returning home in completely nontaxable form, but it can be used in such a way as to reduce taxes due in strictly legal domestic income.
Once the loan has been incurred, the borrower has the right to repay it, with interest, effectively to

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himself. In effect, the criminal can even ship more money out of the country to a foreign safe haven
while reducing the interest component as a business expense against domestic taxable income.
With the employment of the various loan-back techniques, the money laundering circle is not
merely completed, it can actually be increased in diameter.
The 10 Fundamental Laws of Money-laundering

1.

The more successful money-laundering apparatus is in imitating the patterns and behavior of
legitimate transactions, the less the likelihood of it being exposed.

2.

The more deeply embedded illegal activities are within the legal economy, the less their institutional
and functional separation, the more difficult to detect money-maundering.

3.

The lower the ratio of illegal to legal financial flows through any given business institution, the more
difficult will be the detection of money-laundering.

4.

The higher the ratio of services to physical goods production in any economy, the more easily
money-laundering can be conducted in that economy.

5.

The more the business structure of production and distribution of non-financial goods and services it
dominated by small and independent firms or self-employed individuals, the more difficult the job of
separating legal from illegal transactions.

6.

The greater the facility for using cheques, credit cards and other non-cash instruments for effecting
illegal financial transactions, the more difficult is the detection of money-laundering.

7.

The greater the degree of financial deregulation for legitimate transactions, the more difficult will be
the job of tracing and neutralizing criminal from legal money.

8.

The lower the ratio of illegally to legally earned income entering any given economy from outside,
the harder the job of separating criminal from legal money.

9.

The greater the progress towards the financial services supermarket, the greater the degree to
which all manner of financial services can be met within one integrated multi-divisional institution, the
less the functional and institutional separation of financial activities, the more difficult the job of
detecting money-laundering.

10.

The worse becomes the current contradiction between global operation and national regulation of
financial markers, the more difficult the detection of money-laundering.

Factors that Helps in the Money-laundering Scheme

1.The Dollarization of the Black Market.
The growing popularity and the wide acceptance of the United States high denomination notes as a physical
medium of exchange, means of payment and store of value around the world has seriously contributed to the expanding
operation of the black market. This provided the organized crime groups another avenue or option to launder illegal
money.

The steadily growing appetite for US high denomination note has been their vehicle for conducting
covert wholesale transaction for hiding international financial transfers and for holding underground savings.
This operates to the full spectrum of illicit and underground activity and also has direct implications for the
proceeds of serious crimes including drug trafficking.

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The black market exchanging the local currency for US dollar bills can be equally accommodating to
cigarettes smugglers, drug traffickers, tax evaders, kidnap for ransom criminals and other high financially
motivated crimes.

The more popular the use of the US dollar, the more easily someone can bring US currency to parallel
money markets, convert it to local currency, deposit the local currency in a financial institutions and wire it
anywhere else while attracting considerably less attention than the direct deposit of the US currency would
attract.
Due to its wide acceptance, the launderer may convert his US dollars into valuable goods, resell the
goods and deposit the money as the proceeds of a legitimate commerce, thereby further obscuring the trail.
2. The Trend toward Financial Deregulation.

This trend has become the precursor of financial services supermarket, the integrated, multifunctional financial institution that offers the client at one and same time deposit transfer security and
commodity brokerage, investment management and fiduciary service along with departments skilled in creating
foreign skill corporations. And offshore trust. It is gradually eliminating preliminary checks and balances on the
nature, provenance and destination of financial assets that a system of distinct and specialized institutions
should have automatically ensured. Once the money has entered the supermarket, the first barrier has been
destroyed and there are no more layers of scrutiny to pass while the capacity to shift funds from asset to asset
and from place to place is greatly enhanced to the advantage of the organized crime groups.
The growing absence around the world of currency controls of this trend has increased the convertibility
of currencies expanding trade and commerce. The effect is when capital movements are free, this freedom
applies to funds of illegal and legal origin and the more jurisdictions these funds can flow, the more currencies
into which they can be converted and the harder the job of tracing.
3. The Proliferation of Offshore Banks.
The concept of offshore banks, though widely employed, is little understood.

With the progress of the Euromarket, and the growing use offshore banking system, this has reinforced
the trend on liberalization and deregulation. They do not operate however, the same thing as financial secrecy
havens.
By illustration, Panama introduced its bank secrecy laws in 1917, buttressed it with Swiss-style
numbered accounts in 1959 and only introduced offshore banking legislation in 1971. The biggest offshore
banking center is actually the City of London, but its bank secrecy laws, is no serious impediment to criminal
investigations. Switzerland on the other hand, which is almost synonymous to bank secrecy laws, has no
offshore banks.
The common understanding of offshore bank is that it is any bank anywhere in the world that accept
deposits and/or manages assets denominated foreign currency in behalf of persons legally domiciled
elsewhere. What they are supposed to do is handle wholesale transactions, usually denominated in dollars on
a bank-to-bank basis. They do not deal with the general public nor they do not accept cash in suitcases.
Its implication on money-laundering is that it offers more jurisdictions complicating the money trail and
evading the scrutiny of national regulations.

4.

The Proliferation of Financial Secrecy Havens.

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The traditional protection assured to clients of financial institutions is confidentiality, and in case of breach, the
clients have recourse of civil remedies. By contrast, bank secrecy laws imposed criminal sanctions on those who divulge
information regarding clients transactions. Bank secrecy takes many forms, functions and degrees of defeasibility such
as the following :
a. There can be totally anonymous accounts where no one in the bank can possibly know, unless the clients
themselves reveal the information, and who the beneficial owners of the accounts are. These are the most dangerous.
However, at present only Austria offers such accounts. They may be of some use in hiding criminal money but, because
no transfer may be made from them, they are of minimal utility in moving and washing money, and Austria is under
pressure to modify or abolish them.
b. There can be accounts in which a layer inter-poses him between the bank and the client, thereby
protecting the clients identity, first by any bank secrecy laws the country may have and second by an additional layer of
lawyer-client privilege. This was typical, for example, of the old Form B accounts in Switzerland, which have been
abolished. A strong case may be made for banning them wherever they still exist.
c. There are accounts protected by both official bank secrecy acts and the informal device of nominee
ownership in which the nominee and the beneficial owner are connected by civil contract and/or simply a bond of trust (or
fear) rather than by formal attorney-client privilege. These are different from Form B type accounts since the bank has
little or no control over the use of nominees. On the other hand, since there is no client-attorney privilege, there is nothing
to prevent the nominee from revealing information about the beneficial owner of the account.
d. There are owner-held accounts that are coded so that only the top management of the bank knows who the
beneficial owner is, and secrecy laws prevent the management from revealing that information. These are especially
effective if the countrys bank secrecy law also forbids the bank to reveal information even if the client requests lifting of
bank secrecy. The public rationale of such rules is that they protect clients against harassment and blackmail by outlaw
States and secret police forces, and on the surface that seems to be a reasonable argument. However, it is difficult not to
get the impression that the real purpose is to give a competitive advantage to the particular havens banks in bidding for
internal flows of illegal money. In other words, it is the welfare of the banks, not of the clients, that is really at issue. In
any event, it should be possible for the authorities in a jurisdiction to judge whether a client making a request to lift bank
secrecy is being subject to a proper criminal process or is being harassed for purely political reasons before agreeing to
waive secrecy.
e. Then there are coded accounts, protected further by bank secrecy laws, but where the client (perhaps under
pressure from law enforcement) can request the bank to lift the protection and divulge information. By definition these
pose less of a threat.
f. Finally, there are accounts protected by banks secrecy laws without the additional device of a code that
permits that only the most senior managers to know who the account holder is. These more standard forms of secret
accounts have a long history, and there are sound arguments for their existence. However, there are equally compelling
arguments against them. Those who seek secrecy by definition have something to hide. In the majority of cases, it is
safe to say that what they have to hide is the origin, provenance and destination of their wealth, not their political views or
ethnic origins. Nonetheless, rather than pressing for a total abolition of this modest form of bank secrecy, one in which
bank employers in general have direct access to the identity of the beneficial owner of the account and where there are no
extraordinary cloaking devices, efforts should be made to encourage countries to agree on the general conditions under
which secrecy is permissible. There is huge difference between secrecy to protect companys financial position from a
commercial competitors probes and secrecy to protect the origin of a companys bank account from a criminal
investigation.
Features of an Ideal Financial Haven
a.

No deals for sharing tax information with other countries

b.

Availability of instant corporations

c.

Corporate secrecy law

d.

Excellent electronic communications

e.

Tight bank secrecy laws

f.

A large tourist trade that can help explain major inflows of cash

g.

Use of major world currency, preferably the United States dollar,

as the local money

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h.

A Government that is relatively invulnerable to outside pressure

i.

A high degree of economic dependence on the financial service

sector

j.

A geographic location that facilities business travel to and from

k.

Time zone location

l.

A free-trade zone

m.

Availability of a flag-of-convenience shipping registry

rich neighbors.

One analyst observed that the secrecy haven is one of dirty moneys most cherished
privileges and one of its most ardent solicitors. The issue of bank secrecy is a delicate and
serious concern. For unstable and developing countries, it can not just relax its secrecy laws,
otherwise it would shun the interest of would be investors, both legal and illegal ones. It may also drive
away existing foreign companies because of mistaken stiff regulations or too much interference.
However, it is important not to exaggerate the significance of bank secrecy or to lose sight of other
barriers to finding, freezing and forfeiting criminal money because money-laundering can very well exist
even w/o bank secrecy laws. Let us not forget that there still the corporate secrecy laws, w/c even we
have identified the depositor, i.e. Guns For Hire Services, it may still impossible to identify the people
running such entity.
It is not that countries espousing bank secrecy laws are competing for the influx of drug money and
other criminally derived funds, they are just torn between compelling necessities: the need to increase
government resources, its economic vulnerability and the lack of alternative resources.

5. Electronic Transfer

The development of the megabyte money (money in forms of symbols on computer screen) has made it possible
to more funds with speed and ease and in volume without resorting to cash transactions. In the 1995, the United States
payment structure cash transactions only amounted to $ 2,200 billion as compared to $ 544,000 worth of electronic
transaction or roughly 0.40%.
Figure?
What is the implication of this? The extensive used of electronic money transfer, considering its voluminous
transactions, has de-magnified the money-laundering transactions as a mere speck lost in the vast sea of financial
transfers. In addition, there is no existing functional and institutional separation between the transfer of illicit and
licit monies such as proceeds from drug trafficking and other forms of crime. The now defunct United States office of
Technology Assessment had once reasonably guessed that around 0.05 to 0.1 percent of the approximately 700,000 wire
transfers a day contain laundered money up to a value of $ 300 million. That is very much less than a drop in a bucket of
the whole transactions. The gigantic transactions of $ 2,000 billion wire transfers a day would prevent any attempt to
classify the nature of each wire transfer whether it is a laundered money or not.
This opportunity has given more interest to the criminals to exploit the system and offshore financial havens and
bank secrecy jurisdictions are all too often willing participants in this process of exploitation. They are also attractive to
terrorists and insurgent groups seeking to launder criminal proceeds generated to support their armed struggle or to
acquire weapons that can be used in their continuing campaigns of violence.
6.The Used of Professional Launderers
In March 1997, the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report states that professional moneylaundering specialist sell high quality services, contracts, experience and knowledge of money movements, supported by
the latest electronic technology, to any trafficker or other criminal willing to pay their lucrative fees. This practice continues
to make law enforcement more difficult, especially through the commingling of licit and illicit funds from many sources and
the worldwide dispersion of funds, far from the predicate crime scene.

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Among the several levels of professional launderers involved are the following:
a. The first level consists of the so-called financial consultants who write books and conduct seminars
on the tax benefits in the offshore world. This is always followed-up with the provision of specific advice and
guidance for individuals who have been convinced that moving all or part of their financial assets offshore is
beneficial.
b. The second level involves lawyers, accountants or brokerage and financial firms that provide a
porfolio of services to a wide variety of customers, legitimate and criminals alike.
c.
The third level are those financial managers who have chosen a market niche in the provision
of specialized services to specific clients who are obviously engaged in criminal activity. They are more clearly in
collusion with the criminals in hiding and laundering their money.
What level these various agents operate on, their objective is to advice a scheme with an appropriately
complex mix of corporations, jurisdictions and institutions to provide a maximum protection for their clients and to
make any law enforcement investigations as difficult and frustratng as possible.
IV THE GLOBAL SITUATION
A. Global Trends in Money Laundering
1. The global nature of money laundering phenomenon renders geographic boarders increasingly
irrelevant.
2. No significant new methods of money laundering have been identified during the fast years.
3. There is a growing trend among money launders to move away from the banking sector to the nonbank financial institution sector. The use of bureaux change (currency exchange houses) and money remittance
business (such as wire transfer companies) to dispose of criminal proceeds remain among the most of the cited
threats.
4. There is also a continuing increase in the amount of criminal cash being smuggled out of the country
for placement into financial system abroad.
5. The most noticeable trend is the increase in the use of money laundering of non-financial in business
or professions related to banking institution. The use of shell companies is in vehicle.

B. Money Laundering Crimes

Due to the clandestine nature of money laundering, it is difficult to estimate the total amount of
money which goes to through the laundry cycle. The United Nations estimate that about 5% of the worlds gross
national product or as high as $500 billion a year is involved in the process. Efforts are being done by international
organizations to verify this and come up with an accurate figure.
a. The Bank of Coordination and Commerce Intl (1991)

The widely-publicized scandal that became the precursor of changes in European countries regarding
money laundering was the Bank for Coordination and Commerce International (BCCI) case in 1991
operating in the United States and United Kingdom. It sent shock wave through the global financial
system that later called for stricter bank regulations.

The banks publicity of huge profits was largely fictitious and it had been wholly indiscriminate about its
traffickers, terrorists, dictators, fraud, merchants, arms dealers and other organized crime groups.

The banks operation was made-up of multiplying layers of entities, related to one another through an
impenetrable series of holding companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, bank-within-bank, dealing and nominee
relationships. By fracturing corporate structure, the complex BCCI family of entities was able to evade
ordinary restrictions on the movement of capital and goods as a matter of daily practice and routine.

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Exploiting the facilities of offshore financial centers, shell companies and high-level political influence,
BCCIs global scope made it not accountable to any jurisdictions or regulations.

In July 1991, more the $12 billion in assets of BCCI were seized after regulators discovered evidence of
wide-spread fraud.
b. European Union Bank of Antigua (1997)

This is a perfect example of the way in which the offshore banking jurisdictions and bank secrecy havens
facilitate criminal activity. It appeared to be the prototype bank of the future, soliciting for deposits on the
World Wide Web and offering anonymity avoidance of what was portrayed as burdensome and expensive
accounting requirements, and excellent returns of as much as 9.91% on one year, $1 million dollar
certificate of deposit.

It was registered initially as an offshore bank in Antigua on 08 June 1994. In September 1995, the EUB
launched its Web site and chained to be the first Internet bank with customers able to create and manage
account on-line via the internet connection. In 1996 it claimed to have a backing $ 2.8 million and 144
accounts with account holders in 43 countries.

The banks advertisement was explicitly aimed at persons seeking to evade taxes or find a haven for dirty
money where it would be beyond the reach of law enforcement. Customers can open numbered
accounts, in which the customers identity is known only by an EUB private banker or coded accounts,
which are numbered accounts that operate by passcode rather than signature.

In July 1997, the EUB collapsed and bank officials disappeared along with the deposits.
c.

The Johnny Kyong Case

In 1990 Johnny Kyong was convicted of supplying herein to New York Mafia. Apparently, he moved his
profits through bulk shipments of cash to Hong Kong or through a Venezuelan company to bank accounts
in Hong Kong. He then used the fie chien or Asian underground banking system to move more funds to
Burma and Thailand to purchase more drugs.
d.

The Spence Money-laundering of New York (1991)

A law firm provided the over-all guidance for the laundering effort while both a trucking business and a
beer distributorship were used as a cover. A Bulgarian diplomat, a firefighter and a rabbi acted as
couriers, picking up drug trafficking proceeds in hotel rooms and parking lots. The money was then
transported and deposited in an account with the assistance of a Citibank assistant manager; the money
was thereafter wired to banks in Europe, including a private bank in Switzerland in which two employees
remitted it to specific accounts designated by drug traffickers.
A sum of $70 million to $100 million was laundered by the group during 1993 and 1994. The group was
busted when the bank supplied a suspicious activity report which played a critical role in the downfall of
the money-laundering network.
e.

In May of 1999, a money manager has vanished with as

much as $3 billion in clients money by siphoning off a dozen of small insurance companies in five States
in the US.

The suspect was identified as Martin Frankel who is now at large after burning all the documents in his
mansion house with more than 80 computers and wide - screen televisions turned to financial news
channels. As much as $1.98 billion was missing from the St. Francis of Assisi foundation which was
established by Frankel in British virgin Islands in August 1998.

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f. The $10 Billion Russiagate story broken last August 20 by the New York Times and
the Wall Street Journal, in what maybe considered as the biggest money laundering case ever
pursued, seems to be a landmark scandal in Moscow. The billion dollars is said to have been
funneled out of Russia through accounts at the Bank of New York Co. Inc.
Slovo, the former newspaper Pravda, announced that the pogrom (massacre) of the red
Mafia has begun. The US and British secret services do not exclude the probability that money
was used to hire assassins and trade in drugs, the paper added without citing any sources. A
reported Russian mob leader Semyon Mogilevich denied accusations that he was involved in
the alleged laundering through an American Bank, and in the Russian organized crime.
Mogilevich has been linked to a company called Benex which had accounts with the Bank of
New York that raised the suspicion of investment.
Relatedly, Moscows third main daily, Uremya, which has financial links to the Central
bank, reveals that investigation had zeroed in on President Boris Yeltsins two daughters.
"USA Today" reported that Yeltsins daughter and close confidant, Tatyana Dyachenko,
as well as other advisers to the President may have handled $20 million in New York Bank
accounts.
Moscows mainstream press, much of it controlled by the very oligarchs implicated in the
$10 billion dollar probe, however, took a skeptical view. The leading Kommersant Business
Daily newspaper that was recently purchased by controversial tycoon Boris Berejousky simply
ignored the biggest banking scandal to hit modern Russia. Russias more reserved press like
the liberal Sevodnya Daily controlled by Vladimir Gurinskys MOST-Media Bank, linked the Bank
of New York Probe to US election politics.
Is (US Vice-President) Albert Gore the patron of the Russian Mafia? asked the headline of a
Russian newspaper Sevodnya. It argues that the money laundering allegations were being
linked to the New York and Washington Press by the Republicans keen to damage Gores
reputation by portraying him as the "Champion of Corrupt Russian Officials."
Meanwhile, the US and the British authorities are investigating claims that Russian
businessmen and senior officials may have channeled around US$10 billion out of Russia
through the Bank of New York.
However, both the IMF and the US Department of Agriculture said they have no
evidence that their loans and aid to Russia had fallen into the hands of mobsters. "Our
monitoring has not shown any diversion Richard Fritz, USDAs General Sales Manager told
Reuters, adding that food-aid shipments would continue.
Analysts said that Russia might become more isolated from the reform course if the IMF
held back its aid over all allegations that previous credit were caught up in a money laundering
scheme. The incident called into question the next $640 million tranche of $4.5 billion IMF loan
for Russia, expected in September.
The New York Bank (NYB) fired a London-based Executive, Lucy Edwards, in charge of
its Eastern European operation, for misconduct and falsifying records. Another Russian-born
NYB executive, Natasha Murfinkel Kagalousky, has been suspended and her husband
Konstantino is also implicated in the scandal. The latter said the scandal was being blown out of
proportion by US politicians and relating it to the aid to Russia which is expected to be a
sensitive issue in the next years presidential election.
C. Global Response
Countries around the globe are now beginning to realize the catastrophic impact of money-laundering if it
goes-on unchecked. This new trend in the organized crime world threatens to erode the integrity of every nations
financial system, the safety and security of people, state and other democratic institutions. Fighting it not only
reduces financial crimes but it will deprive these elusive, well-financed and technologically adept criminals and
terrorists of the means to commit other serious crimes.

Page 34 of 59
The United States of America has been continually exerting effort and initiatives to lay down effective
measures to combat money-laundering and other international crimes. Bilateral and global cooperation is being
forged to come up with an internationally accepted countermeasures and law enforcement.
The International Law Enforcement Academies (ILEA) in Budapest, Western Hemisphere and Bangkok,
Thailand were recently established to provide instruction and training in financial investigation techniques and
money-laundering.
The Mutual Legal Assistants Treaties (MLATs), in which the Philippines is a signatory, was signed by many
countries to allow the exchange of information and evidence in the criminal prosecution of money-laundering and
asset forfeiture cases.
There is also the Statement of Principles on Prevention Of Criminal Use of Banking System for the
Purpose of Money Laundering of the Basel Committee on Banking Regulations and Supervisory Practices of
December 1988, also known as the Basel Statement.
The G-7 Economic Summit in Paris in 1989 established the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) the
purpose of which is the promotion and development of policies to combat money-laundering. In April 1998, FATF
member-states confirmed their intention to build a strong global alliance and urged all concerned to foster the
establishment of a world-wide anti-money laundering network through expansion of its membership, development
of regional bodies and close coordination with all relevant international organizations. It also expressed its
concerned on jurisdictions which allow excessive banking secrecy and the use of screen companies for illegal
purposes. It then issued the FATF 40 Recommendations on money-laundering which was revised in 1996 and
referred to as the FATF Recommendations.

On 08 November 1990, a Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds of
Crime, also referred to as the Strasbourg Convention was finalized and was opened for signature since then.
By 10 June 1991, the Council of Europe issued a directive on the prevention of the use of the financial
system for the purpose of money laundering (91/308/EEC) also known as the CEC directive.
In December of 1995, the Ministerial Communique of the Summit of Americas Conference concerning the
Laundering of Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Crime was held in Buenos Aires, France.
Recently, the United Nations issued the Political Declaration and Action Plan against Money Laundering
which was adopted at the twentieth special session of the General Assembly in New York on 10 June 1998.
Several jurisdictions now are reviewing their financial regulations and restrictions, adopting new measures
and opening their system for linkage with other countries. The creeping clout, economic desolation and mockery
of states sovereignty have been the catalyctic factors on why several jurisdictions are now taking the initiatives
against money-laundering.
Facing international pressure after several cases of financial frauds scandal, Austria has criminalized the
laundering of all assets derived from serious crimes. The legislation extended to banks, mutual savings bodies,
insurers and bureaux de change, all of which are required to report suspicious transactions to the Reporting Unit
of the EDOK (Central Department Against Organized Crime).
In August 1998, The Kingdom of Belgium extended its money-laundering laws to professions and activities
other than financial institutions including real estate agents, notaries bailiffs, accountants and auditors, estate
agents, casinos, and security firms that transport money. Financial institutions are required to keep records on the
identities of all their clients and are required to report suspicious transactions involving $13,000 or more.
In Burma under its 1993 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Law, narcotic related money-laundering
is a crime and money, property or benefits involved in or derived from narcotics may be seized. There are no
reliable records of its campaign however, because of its lack of expertise and resources to prosecute moneylaundering.
China, with its large and growing economy, weak and liberalized financial system, has led to an increase in
financial crimes, particularly fraud. In 1997, a law was passed criminalizing the laundering of the proceeds of
narcotic trafficking, smuggling and organized crimes. It also required that foreign currency transactions over
$10,000 fro individuals and $100,000 for authorized businesses, be verified and registered with the State
Administration of Foreign Exchange.
In India, the most significant sources of laundered money are financial crimes (including tax evasions) and
corruption. Although money-laundering is not a criminal offense per se, those suspected of hiding funds can be
prosecuted for income tax evasion or under sections of customs or foreign exchange regulations. Current laws

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also stipulate that transactions over $2,400 must be reported to bank management which then decide whether or
not it will notify the authorities of any suspicious activity. It has a pending bill on money-laundering as of late 1997.
Money-laundering in Italy was informally estimated to a total of over $50 billion annually. In 1997, the
Italian government enacted Act No. 153 which created an inter-ministerial commission to coordinate all
enforcement for intelligence network, operation, and prosecution of money-laundering cases.
The United Kingdom money-laundering regulations mandate suspicious transaction reporting, customer
identification, and record keeping. This applies to banking and non-banking sector including accountants, lawyers
and professionals.

There are many other countries around the globe which have initiated counter-measure laws to combat
money-laundering. Others are in the process of legislation while others are just beginning to recognize the
criminal character of this new phenomenon. Still, others failed or may have deliberately ignored the existence of
this new criminal activity, may be because they have not felt its impact or they simply refused to admit it. Sooner
or later, the time will come for them to realize implacable existence of money-laundering. Worse, this
phenomenon may have been in their backyard, slowly eating the foundations of its governmental and financial
structureslike termites!
V THE PHILIPPINE SITUATION
A. The Status Quo

The Philippines has long recognized that the drug menace is the cause of the rising criminal wave, and
that effective anti-money laundering measures are critical part in the fight against the drug problem. There are
also other criminal activities partaking an international dimension yet to be effectively addressed by the
government. Among these are human trafficking, arms smuggling, credit card fraud and other crimes riding on
the technology of the information highway.
It is true that our laws have their forfeiture clause, but they seem to not apply when the criminal money
has been re-invested in a semi-legal and legal business conduits. There is yet to a court decision on this
aspect of criminal prosecution. The reason for this is that there must not be an iota of doubt that the money
was directly derived from the specific offense subject of prosecution. That is why criminals convicted of
economic crimes are put behind bars but without their laundered money being traced and forfeited.
There is yet to be a concrete case on money-laundering but there are strong indicators that this
menace exists in our jurisdiction. The proliferation of businesses like pawnshops, foreign exchange dealers,
bars and restaurants, casinos and others have been viewed as positive index of a growing economy, but a
meticulous dissertation of their structures may reveal otherwise. These are potential conduits of criminal
proceeds in its money-laundering process.
Our strict bank secrecy laws, liberalized economy, graft and corruption in various governmental sectors
and absence of anti-money laundering laws may have been taken advantage of by organized crime groups
operating under the cloak of small-medium and large investment schemes.
In reference to the "major financial havens" identified by the United Nations Office for Drug Control and
Crime Prevention (UNDCP) and our Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Registered Foreign Equity
Investments, there are at least ten (10) jurisdictions which have a record of investment in our country. Although
we have no concrete records that these investments from these financial havens have their origin from criminal
activities, the erratic statistical changes based on the records of the BSP indicate strong circumstancial
evidence that laundered money passed through our financial system (Refer to Figure ___). Consider the case
of the British Virgin Islands, it had an investment of $8.762 million in 1995 and by the next year the investment
ballooned to $105.77 million or a meteoric increased of approximately 1,200%.
Figure/statistics.
Netherlands in 1994 increased by 4,054% or $547,766 million as compared to its $13.51 million
investments in 1993. Other jurisdictions considered as financial havens also showed some unusual increases
and decreases in their investments which somehow defied normal economic explanation. This is not saying

Page 36 of 59
that all these investments have their sources from criminal proceeds. There are strong indicating factors
however, that certain percentage of these investments are laundered money, and a deeper study and analyst
must be conducted on this matter.
A consideration must be made that during those years, there were unusual increases in the
investments from these financial jurisdictions. It was also during those times that there are millions or billions of
laundered money being investigated involving these financial havens. It is not far from possibility that a certain
amount of these laundered money found there way into our financial system through banks, real estate
business, stocks exchange and other financial ventures.
The Philippine government however, is cautiously addressing the problem because of the "chilling
effect" it might cause to the economy. The investments from other countries regardless of the nature of their
"origin" is very much welcomed because it helps our economy afloat, especially during financial crisis, and
increases government revenue. It is a positive indication to the global market that our economy is stable and
strong, and most probably it will attract more foreign entities to invest in our country.
The passage of anti-money laundering measures purposedly to sanitize the kinds and sources of funds
being invested here would however, raise a negative impression on these investors, both local and foreign. It
may drive away the much sought investments and derail our course towards a full-blown economic
development. At the same time, we are trying to prevent the Philippines from becoming another financial haven
for money laundering. These are the diametrical extremes which our country is trying to reconcile.
The political structure of our country also serves as an impediment to the passage of various pending
bills in congress on money laundering. The oppositions consider it as a "Damoclean sword' hanging over them
ready to strike them in times of political upheaval. They see it as a tool for political vendetta primarily because
of the inclusion of the RA 3019 or the Anti - Graft and Corrupt practices Act and other related laws which can
easily be emasculated and prostituted in order to suit the demands of the powers that be.
In a strong democracy like ours, the amendments to bank secrecy and the wire tapping laws will be
vehemently opposed. The constitutional guarantee on our bill of rights will shun any attempt to erode or
diminish any of those sacred provisions. But the amendments are necessary in the investigation process on
money laundering. Law enforcers are left crippled to unravel the intricate web of money laundering schemes
and run after the personalities behind this new criminal dimension. This is the shelter hub where launderers
take their next move to transfer their laundered money to another jurisdiction. This will render more difficult for
investors to track down these money launderers.
The fact remains however, that something must be done. There is a semblance of truth to all the
suspicions and fears that we have - that money laundering exists in our jurisdiction! To date, there are four
pending bills in Congress since 1998 on racketeering activities and money laundering (comparative matrix
included here).
Among the identified transnational crimes operating in the Philippines and have linkages to moneylaundering activities are the following;

1.

Drug Trafficking

According to estimates, the whole drug industry, which is primary concern of the government
today, is worth more than P250 billion, roughly half of the national budget. This drug menace has been
the formidable threat to all the sectors of our society because of its encompassing and devastating
effects. This large amount of money is used by drug traffickers to buy real estates, invest them in
business ventures, procure of stocks and even create their own financial institutions or transfer their
drug money to financial havens abroad.
A country report prepared for the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asean Nations
(ASEAN) Senior Official on Drug Matters held last April in Jakarta summed up the role the Philippines
plays in drug trafficking trade.
The report said that "the Philippines has become the major transit

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points in international drug trafficking because of its proximity to the Golden Triangle: Laos, Thailand
and Myanmar; its strategic location in the Pacific and southeast Asia; its lengthy coastline suitable for
smuggling; its financial/banking system conducive to money laundering; and its tourists flow in major
international ports." The continuos laundering of drugs money may soon dissipate our financial
resources and ultimately cripple our financial and governmental structures, not to mention the social
havoc it will cause to our country.
2.

Terrorism

On 15 November 1986, a Japanese national was kidnapped by the Communists Party of the
Philippines/National Peoples Army (CPP/NPA) and demanded a ransom of US $3 million to support its terroristic
activities and other rebellious deeds to destabilize the government.
The CPP/NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF) have collected Php16 million in 1998 through
revolutionary taxes and extortion from wealthy personalities in there are of operation and from other sympathetic
groups of the society. They are also recipient of Php11.9 million from foreign sources through electronic bank
transfer and other money-laundering techniques.
A Php50 million initial funding from a certain Al Mokhro Ibrahim, member of the Ikhan Al Muslimen from of
Qatar was laundered to construct a hospital for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Financial support from
the Arab countries were also used to purchase assorted firearms for the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF. They have an
estimate of 10,500 assorted FAs approximately valued Php150 million.
Analysis revealed that these terrorists groups cannot perpetuate their abhorrent acts without the financial
support of both local and international cliques through the money-laundering process or violation of antiracketeering laws.
3.

Arms Trafficking

The government is losing Php40 million annually on unpaid taxes due to the smuggling of paltik
firearms which is now gaining recognition among organized crime groups around the world.
The PNP Firearms and Explosive Division (PNP-FED) records show that from 1991 to March 1999, the
NALECC-NAIAI Group intercepted and confiscated 334 assorted smuggled firearms roughly valued at Php3-4
million. Sometime in 1992, it was monitored that a big shipment of firearms, mostly cal. 5.56 rifles (US made)
were unloaded in Mindanao. The firearms were allegedly purchased by local officials.
The Japanese Yakuza syndicate and the Boryukodan group are identified as smuggling in and out of the
country through the various entry points with used of barges, motorized bancas and other water carriers. The
Philippine Navy anti-gunrunning operations from, 1992 to March 1999 effected the seizure of 55 vessels, arrest of
52 persons and confiscation of various firearms valued at Php 5.7 million.
4.

Trafficking in Persons

Trafficking of human beings, particularly women and children have reached an alarming level throughout
the world.
In 1996, 984 Filipino women were married in a Korean sect ceremony to Korean Moonies, after being
matched by a computer. A $2,000 fee was collected from the groom. Documented cases include women
eventually sold into prostitution upon arrival in Korea.
The proliferation of websites in the cyberspace featuring Filipina women as sex commodities and mailorder-brides is becoming a lucrative business. In 1996 alone, this cyberspace sex industry posted an estimated
US $198 million.
The entry of illegal aliens by means of air and sea transportation through the various entry and exit points
has become a security concern of the country. On top of that, fraudulent passports and documents are
manufactured by criminal syndicates by paying them Php20,000 to Php50,000 to facilitate their entry into the
country. Thousands of foreign nationals, particularly Chinese, enter our jurisdiction annually.
This is not to mention the illegal recruitment and placement wherein Php20,000 to as much Php120,000
are being charged to our unsuspecting countrymen hoping to find a greener pasture in foreign land, and the other
modes of trafficking such as adoption, religious pilgrimage, family tours and others.
5. Commercial Frauds

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In May of 1999, an Augustinian Filipino priest was arrested for carrying 24 phony US $100 million notes
who tried to sell to a broker. Investigation showed that the notes came from the southern part of the Philippines
and that the priest had access to another $65 billion fake currency.
Sometime in August 1998, an advertisement in the a newspaper stated that:
Money Trading P200,000 minimum investment 15% return/day, pooling possible, profits
withdrawal daily. No Gimmicks. Call 8942689/ page EC 146-943792.
The ad came from WINGOLD MANAGEMENT PHILS., INC (WMPI) registered with the Security and
Exchange Commission (SEC) on 19 March 1998 primarily to act as manager or managing agents of persons,
firms, associations, corporation, partnerships and other entities. except management of funds, securities,
porfolios or similar assets of the managed entities or corporation (underscoring supplied). It claimed to have a
head office in British Virgin Islands, but as inquiry, it has been struck off for non-payment of license fee.
Although it was never licensed as a commodity/merchant broker, it engaged in foreign currency trading
activities and has defrauded its client foreign currency investors easily estimated at Php1.6 billion.

The proliferation of fake currency syndicates involving foreign nationals, particularly Jordanians and
Nigerians have penetrated our jurisdiction. Hundreds of millions of fake dollars and pesos have been confiscated.
This coupled by the reproduction of fake credit/ATM cards which has defrauded millions of pesos from unwitting
cardholders and depositors.
5.

Treasureland Limited

In August of 1999, the Interpol of London which currently conducting investigation on a possible large
scale money-laundering operation which has been brought to light as a result of a series of disclosures made by
the Anglo Irish Bank in London.
On several occasions, Treasureland Limited, holding office in Pasig but was incorporated in British Virgin
Island, with identified two (2) Filipino directors, expressed its intention to deposit around US $10 billion with the
Anglo Irish Bank. The bank however, requested clarification on the location and sources of the funds and was
advised that the funds were with the Chase Manhatten in Zurich. In addition, a certificate of deposit for US
$2,107,865.02 held at Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company was provided but appeared to have been produced
on an ink jet printer.
It is vaguely intimated that the amount may be connected to the ill-gotten wealth of the former President
Marcos.
The amount appears to be very substantial with potential to destabilize national economies and bring
about the downfall of long standing and secure financial institutions.
6.

Graft and Corruption

According to estimates, about 30-40% of our national budget is lost graft and corruption. That is
translated to a fair estimate of P150 billion to P200 billion annually being wasted through bureaucratic red tapes,
ghost projects, cost estimate padding, overpricing, percentages and other unscrupulous means used by crooks in
the government.

B. Creation of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime

(PCTC)

During the 6th Asean Summit on 15 December 1998 held in Hanoi, Vietnam, the delegates recognized
the threats of transnational crimes in view of its political, economic and socio-cultural repercussions.
On 15 January 1999, President Joseph Estrada issued Executive Order No. 62creating the Philippine
Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) to formulate and implement a concerted program of action of all law
enforcement, intelligence units and other government agencies for the prevention and control of transnational
crimes.
This was reinforced by Executive Order No. 100 dated 07 May 1999 placing the Loop Center of the National
Action Committee on Anti-Carnapping and Anti-Terrorism (NACAHT), Interpol NCB-Manila, Police Attaches of the
Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Political Attaches/Councilors for Security Matters of the DILG, under the general
supervision and control of the PCTC.

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The Philippines is projected to host the Asean Conference on Transnational Crime this November
1999. The PCTC will also become the future location of proposed Asean Center which will become the
database information center for all Asean countries regarding transnational crimes.
On 04-06 August 1999, the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines sponsored the Asia Pacific
Group on Money Laundering where about 30 jurisdictions attended the same. The conference focused on the
countermeasures that could be adopted by jurisdictions according to their peculiar situation. The financial, legal
and law enforcement aspects were considered as logical and effective approach against money-laundering.
VI PROPOSALS

The government should draft a strategic plan that will focus on money-laundering. We should not be
immobilized by the inertia of waiting for a big explosion. This new criminal phenomenon must given the
scrutiny of attention before it permeates like poisonous vines the governmental structure and financial system
of our country. We should not wait for us to reach the point of no return.
The following proposals are recommended:
1.
2.

Immediate passage of the anti-money laundering bill.

Revision of our bank secrecy law, wire-tapping law and other related laws in harmony with trade
liberalization but without compromise of financial integrity and sovereignty.

3.

Adoption of mandatory reporting of suspicious or anomalous transactions.

4.

Constant and effective monitoring of money laundering patterns within and without our jurisdiction.

5.

Research and analysis of money management practices.

6.

Monitor and restrictions against non-drug related money-laundering and other financial crimes.

7.

Involvement of the banking and other financial sectors in the government's drive against
transnational crime.

8.

Continuing study on global trends in both economic, political and socio-cultural development.

9.

Statistical research, analysis and monitor of alien activities in the country.

10. Analyzing the impact of money-laundering on national government and economy.

11.

Drafting of MOA, bilateral or multi-lateral agreements with the regional and international law
enforcement agencies in the operation, investigation and prosecution of transnational crime
syndicates.

12. Closer supervision of the local banking system vis--vis the global financial structure.

PCTC Paper on Trafficking in Persons

I. INTRODUCTION

Migration may be viewed as a form of socio-economic emancipation for some people, an escape from
restrictive social and political conditions in the place of origin, or a realization of a desire for some change in
lifestyle and adventure.
Dictated by economic want and the need to escape from adverse conditions at home, labor migration in
the 1970s and 80s became a form of individual survival strategy that many governments have since
developed and institutionalized into official economic programs that export massive numbers of workers. To

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date, there are estimated seven million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) distributed in 129 countries. Since
their remittances totaling to US$13.16B from January to July 1998, have greatly helped in keeping the
economy afloat and uplifting their family's standard of living, their outflow could not just be regulated nor
controlled.
Over the past ten years, in some countries, the volume of women migrant workers has gradually surpassed that of men.
Being more fragile and vulnerable than men, women often find themselves in hostile foreign settings, unprotected by local
or international laws. Some women are led to expect legitimate work but end up in prostitution. The wages they receive,
which are much lower than what they expected or were promised, force them to submit to prostitution. Still, others take
chances and leave the country illegally either as tourist or fiance and engage in fixed marriages, or even be transported
in cargo boxes, freezer vans and drums. Thus, trafficking is a potential outcome of labor migration.

The illegal recruitment, clandestine transport and exploitation of women as prostitutes, and the
organized prostitution of children of both sexes in a number of countries are well documented. A link has been
established in some places between prostitution and pornography and the promotion and growth of tourism.
The development of tourism as a world industry, supported by international financing institutions in the
1970s as a development strategy, exposed the developing countries to exploitation under the cover of new
tourist destinations. Aggressive tourism promotion policies were adopted by a number of governments in the
region. Sadly, a large number of male tourists are more inclined to sexual adventure in exotic places, thus, the
routes and the business of sex tourism were firmly established.
The smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons have increased tremendously throughout the
world mainly because of the involvement of Organized Crime Groups (OCGs). The trafficking in persons by
OCGs undermines established immigration policies of the destination countries and often involves human
rights abuses. Persons illegally brought into other countries are treated as parties to a criminal transaction but
in reality they are themselves victims in the economic, physical or moral sense. Often deceived by unrealistic
promises and unfounded opportunities in the destination country, most end up engaging in prostitution or
criminal activities in order to pay for the expenses incurred. Indeed, OCGs commit the offense of both
smuggling and human trafficking. This has become a major activity and a source of income of criminal
organizations at the national and international levels.
Migrant workers, recruiters and traffickers of women prefer more developed countries with lax policies
towards visitors and immigrants. Yet, tighter immigration and entry laws, ostensibly enacted to curtail the influx
of foreigners seeking a better life, result in more women being smuggled in. One key factor here that
determines variations in laws towards visitors and immigrants is the factor of citizenship. Citizenship
determines to a great extent the political, social and civil rights enjoyed by people, which in turn, have a direct
relationship with their economic rights and hence, the class position and mobility that they enjoy. The futility of
law and legal reforms in the area of immigration, and the strict implementation of citizenship laws in individual
countries only point to the greater necessity of addressing the economic and other societal problems within
sending countries which compel their women to migrate.
The nature of trafficking in persons needs more attention, not much on the emigration of men but on the
emigration of women and children. The immigration of foreign nationals is also considered a State concern. The
emigration of women and immigration of foreign nationals have advantages but more often than not, the disadvantages
far outweigh the social, political and economic repercussions on both the countries of origin and destination.
II.

NATURE OF TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

For the purpose of this paper and to be able to better describe trafficking in persons, there is a need to
define terms related to it.
1.

Trafficking in Persons it is the recruitment, transportation or receipt of persons through

deception or coercion for the purpose of prostitution, other sexual exploitation or forced labor.

2.

Smuggling the offense of importing or exporting prohibited articles without paying the duties
chargeable upon them. The fraudulent taking into a country or out of it, merchandise which is
lawfully prohibited.

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3.

Person in general usage, a human being though by statute term may include a firm, labor
organization, partnership, association, corporation, legal representative or receiver. This paper will
use the term person as a human being.

4.

Migrant person who moves from one place or country to another with the objective of making
profit or improvement of life.

5.

Migration movement from one place to another or from one country or region to another
country or region.

6.

Emigration the act of removing from one country to another, with no intention to return.

7.

Immigration the coming into a country of foreigners for the purpose of permanent residence.

8.

Recruitment and placement - an act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing,

hiring or procuring workers and includes referrals, contract service, promising or advertising for
employment, locally or abroad whether for profit or not.

It would also be helpful to consider the different definitions used by local and international organizations:

Clarke defines Trafficking in Persons as the bringing in of individual/s to a border bypassing normal
immigration procedures. On the same manner, he further opines that Smuggling in Persons is the illegal
means of entry of individuals to another border for the purpose of illegal activities.
The United Nations offices suggest: The smuggling of migrants can be defined as the procurement
of illegal entry of a person into a State of which the latter is not a national with the objective of making profit.
Trafficking can be defined as the recruitment, transportation or receipt of persons through deception or
coercion for the purpose of prostitution, other sexual exploitation or forced labor.
In the Regional Meeting on Trafficking in Women, Forced Labor and Slavery-Like Practices in AsiaPacific, held in Bangkok, Thailand on February 19-22, 1997, the participants viewed Trafficking in Women as
all acts involved in the recruitment and/or transport of a woman within and across national border for sale,
work or services by means of direct or indirect violence or threat of violence, abuse of authority or dominant
position, debt-bondage, deception and other forms of coercion.
Furthermore, the book entitled Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific published by
the Coalition against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific, describe Trafficking in Women as the transport, sale
or purchase of women and girls for profit, gain and any other consideration for purposes of prostitution, bonded
labor and sexual enslavement within the country or abroad. It often involves the use of force as in kidnapping
and abduction; the use of threat, trickery and false promises as well as all forms of enticement. It operates in
conjunction with practices when women are sexually exploited such as in brothel prostitution, military
prostitution, sex tours, or marriage matching arrangements. It further recognizes trafficking in women and
prostitution as situated in a continuum of sexual exploitation that perpetrates and continually reinforces the
subordinate status of women. On the same continuum belong forms of sexual violence such as rape, incest,
genital mutilation, sexual harassment, pornography as well as sex tourism and bride trade.

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According to Ms. Aurora Javate de Dios, Director, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia in her
introductory speech during the Human Rights Conference on the Trafficking of Asian Women on April 2-4, 1999,
trafficking may constitute acts involved the capture and acquisition of women and children for trade and
transport with the interest to sell, exchange or use for any illegal purpose such as prostitution, servitude in the
guise of marriage, bonded labor or even the sale of human organs.
Shamin cited in her paper that to address the issue in its proper context, trafficking of women and
children should include all acts involved in capture and acquisition of women and children for trade and
transport with the intent to sell, exchange or use for any illegal purpose such as camel racing,
prostitution, servitude in the guise of marriage, bonded labor or sale of human organs. Trafficking occurs
in a variety of ways such as promises of jobs or marriage, and at times, including physical violence and
kidnapping.

Siazon, on the other hand, defined human trafficking from the Philippine experience as "involves the
recruitment, transfer and deployment of persons, particularly women and children, through legal and illegal
means, with or without the victim's consent or knowledge, within or across national borders, often involving
coercion, abuse of authority, debt bondage, deception, and for settlement, work or services, characterized by
forced labor, slavery-like practices and prostitution."
Trafficking in persons as a transnational crime, being a newly recognized reality has yet to find an
officially adopted definition from the international community. However, there is an emerging consensus
defining trafficking in persons as an offense that has an international dimension and involves crossing of at
least one border. Despite these differences in its definition, we can draw out at least seven common elements
namely:
1.

Person or human being is involved

2.

Profit is the primary objective;

3.

Presence of coercion or deception, violence or threat of violence;

4.

There is the intent to sell, exchange or use for any illegal purpose;

5.

Illegal entry of individual(s) to another border;

6.

Involvement of international organized crime groups;

7.

Money laundering is present.

Thus, we shall adopt the meaning of trafficking in persons, in the Philippine context, as an activity
that involves the recruitment, transfer, and deployment of persons, particularly women and children through
legal or illegal means, with or without the victims consent or knowledge, within or across national borders,
often involving coercion, violence, debt-bondage, deception and for settlement, work or services characterized
by forced labor, slavery-like practices and prostitution.
III.

TRENDS IN TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

A.

INTERNATIONAL

The consequence of World War II led to the creation of the United Nations as the answer to the
universal yearning for peace and friendship among peoples regardless of color or creed. It was
intensified by sending diplomatic representatives to be able to deal more directly and closely with each
other in the improvement of their mutual interest. With these developments, migration of people to other
places or countries became rampant.

Page 43 of 59
With the massive migration of people abroad, abetted by state policies for the export of labor
and the internationalization of labor markets, it becomes the instrument of syndicated groups to
proliferate their illegal activities. These syndicated groups such as the Boryokudan (Aka Yakuza) of
Japan, Mafia, Chinese Triads, Milliardaire gang of Belgium and Nigerian criminal enterprises are
controlled and dominated by highly skilled, heavily armed and very menacing gangs and individuals. In
fact, they were able to influence some government officials and law enforcement authorities in most
countries for their protection. Their networks are well established and well connected all over the world,
which gave rise to the globalization of sex trafficking. The phenomenal movements of women that span
the globe; from Asia to Europe, the Americas and Africa; from Latin America to Europe and the United
States; from Africa to Europe; and since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the traffic of Eastern Europeans
to Israel and to Asian Pacific countries like Thailand, Philippines and Australia are unprecedented.
B.

REGIONAL

Trafficking must also be analyzed in terms of structural inequality between Third World and
industrialized countries, which has made of the impoverished populations of countries of the South
mere labor and sexual commodities.
In Asia, a combination of declining incomes, economic dislocations as a result of economic recession, natural
disasters, political and military wars and conflicts have pushed men, women and children to look for work in other
countries or in urban centers of their countries. Citizens of these countries are easily enticed by organized
recruiters to work abroad and try their luck. Cross-border movements of refugees running away from increasing
militarization, usually women and children as those from Afghanistan and Nepal, present an opportunity for
traffickers.
A number of Asian brides who used marriage to foreign nationals as their passport to immigration have been
victimized by abusive husbands. Either they are forced into prostitution, be mere sex partners, punching bags
and worse, end up dead.

Asian women are traded and exported to the industrialized world. A surplus of women in these
regions renders this possible. Women and children are captured not only for purposes of prostitution,
forced or bonded labor, sexual abuse but also for the sale of their organs. Traffickers employ methods
in the guise of hiring domestic helpers, salesgirls, factory workers or "entertainers" with promises of
good compensation, high wages and benefits to lure their victims. There are known cases of hired
domestic helpers being abused by their employers and eventually sold or rented out for sexual
services.
There are networks of traffickers and brokers, mostly Pakistanis and Indians with links that extends from
Bangladesh, through India into Pakistan where the corrosive practice of slavery goes unchecked. In India, for
example, poverty, illiteracy and backwardness are the main reasons for the increase in trafficking of women and
children. Wholesale clandestine markets or mondi are to be found in big cities like Calcutta, Agra, Bombay and
Hyderabad. Many women and children are being trafficked from the military prostitution industry in Thailand to
Germanys legalized brothels serving tourists, businessmen and sailors. They join the local women and women
brought in from other parts of the world to respond to the demand.
As for children, their trafficking can be considered as an invisible problem. The early involvement of children of
acutely poor families in economic activities for quick and easy money leads them to prostitution either with or
without parental guidance.
Another problem on trafficking of children has been uncovered. This is the use of an innocent child usually from 45 years of age for camel racing. He/she is tied on the back of the camel before the start of the race. When the
camel starts running, the frightened child starts to shout which makes the camel run faster and makes the race
more exciting for the ones betting on it. Heavy children are not suited for these races as the camel cannot run
swiftly, thus these children are starved and not given any food before the start of the race. These children were
either kidnapped or sold by their parents. Most of these children are smuggled into Dubai and Abu Dhabi as these
places are famous for their notorious camel races. Apprehensions have been made to curtail further trafficking of
children for this purpose but the sad fact is that it still exists. Land routes via India and Pakistan as well as air
routes are used for trafficking children to the Middle East. There are agents in Dhaka and in other parts of the
country who are financed by the rich Arabs to procure children. Due to the recent restrictions of Pakistani and
Indian children from going to the Middle East, the next country to fall prey was Bangladesh.
Undocumented migrant workers especially women, live under the constant fear of arrest and deportation. Due to
their situation, they are forced to sell their bodies in order to survive, or to provide sexual favors in exchange for
work, or as bribe to the police in exchange for freedom. One act of prostitution leads to another, until these
women find themselves deeply trapped in the trade.

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C.

PHILIPPINES

The out-migration of Filipino laborers is not new in history. Since the early 1900s, when the Philippines
was still an American colony, many Filipinos have migrated to the United States mainland and Hawaii to work in
fruit plantations, canneries and other factories. Majorities of them were male workers from impoverished rural
provinces, notably the Ilocos Region. These migrant workers were provided incentives by the U.S. to return to the
Philippines to find marital partners and eventually settle down with their wives. Since then, more Filipino women
who are single and with relatives in the U.S. migrated. In the 1950s and 1960s more and more Filipino
accountants, nurses, doctors and other health workers went to the U.S. as temporary workers and later as
immigrants.
By the mid 1970s, the U.S. was no longer the main destination for Filipino migrants. Bolstered by the oil
crisis and strength of its petroleum dollars, petroleum rich Middle Eastern countries experienced an economic
boom that necessitated the importation of labor. The Filipino labor force that went to the Middle East in the 1970s
was predominantly male and was based in construction, manufacturing and technical services. With the decline of
the industrial construction phase of their economies, the labor demand shifted to administrative, health and
domestic workers readily supplied by Filipino women who were dissatisfied with the low wages and poor working
conditions in the country. As more and more Filipino women went to the Middle East as nurses, hairdressers,
waitresses, and maids, illegal recruiters and traffickers victimized many of them.
Many workers seeking overseas contract work, mostly young women aged 15 to early 20s have been tricked by
illegal recruiters, prospective marriage partners, and other shady deals in accepting marriage proposals or nonexistent jobs abroad. They fall prey into the hands of white slavers and prostitution rings or joins the ranks of the
swelling number of undocumented workers living under fear of harassment, arrest and deportation.

In some parts of Europe, women who are trafficked entered as tourists. They cross the borders
on board land vehicles or on foot to reach their country of destination. Spain and Italy are the popular
destinations.
While victims may possess travel and employment documents, quite a number of documented cases
involved the transport of women by illegal means via air cargo, freezer vans and drums. Gert Ranjo-Libang,
Executive Director of the Center for Womens Resources, recalls a story a few years back of women being found
dead after they were locked in drums for weeks in a cargo vessel. Another case involved women found frozen
dead in a van while being transported across borders in Europe.

The legislation of Republic Act 6955 in 1996 (An Act Declaring Unlawful the Practice of
Matching Filipino Women to Foreign Nationals on Mail Order Basis or Other Similar Practices), did not
prevent the continuous increase in the number of mail-order brides. We can attribute this proliferation to
a large extent to the Internet.
IV.

SCHEMES IN TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

Schemes or modes in trafficking in persons may be categorized in the following manner:

A. Inter-marriages
As a consequence of inter-marriage as a form of migration, problems and issues have appeared
unexpectedly. One aspect prioritized by the Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO) is the Mail-Order Bride that
involves a lot of Filipino women. The following are the modus operandi in the trafficking of women:
1.

Serial/Multiple Sponsorship

Under this scheme, foreign nationals come to the Philippines to sponsor Filipino applicants for visa to their
country. To facilitate and legitimize the application, the Filipina is introduced as a fiance, then arrangements for the visa is
processed with the help, for a fee, of the would-be husband. Upon approval and arrival abroad, the fiance either
separates from her partner or pursues employment in the foreign country or treats her for illegal employment. The
foreigner then goes back to the target country and repeats the same scheme.
2.

Trafficking by Introduction by Marriage Bureaus, Deception, Marriage for a Fee, Migration through
Marriages

According to Ms. Lucille Ronda, Representative of the CFO during the First Conference of Trafficking on Humans
at the PCTC, marriage brokers usually get as much as P300-P400 thousand for every deal of marriage of Filipinos to

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foreigners. Matchmaking schemes include personal introduction, wedding and travel arrangements/packages. Selection of
the bride is chosen from a queue of women at selected five-star hotels. If ever marriage were not concluded, other
prospective brides/women are presented as ready substitute.
Marriage fraud happens on arrangement with the fictitious partner. As an example, marriage brokers are given a
fee of P 75,000 to P125, 000 for every Filipino going to Japan as a bride. Likewise, personal contact/meeting happens
only after marriage (except in the U.S.). Upon arrival abroad, the bride separates from her partner and pursues an
employment.

3.

Internet

Other schemes in matchmaking involved the use of the Internet. It replaced the mail-order bride racket of the
1970s and 1980s. Names of women seeking marriage are advertised in the Internet together with their picture and
personal profile. Internet subscribers pay the corresponding amounts ranging from US35-US$135 just to secure a
password access to the personal data of all ladies in the Internet list (http//www.ab3.com/info/join.htm) If a bride is
chosen, correspondence and personal meetings are conducted. Upon agreement, wedding and travel arrangements are
made.
Coalition Against Trafficking of Filipino Women director Aurora Javate de Dios reported that websites featuring
Filipino beauties are currently the most visited sites in cyberspace. The price could go on as high as $5,000 if the Filipina
is a show business personality. In 1996 alone, the cyberspace sex industry posted estimated earnings of $198 million. It
has also become so lucrative that websites featuring Filipino beauties have mushroomed from 200 to 1997 to 72,000 this
year.
4.

Religious Movements

The program starts by enticing young women to join the movement. Religious training is conducted, after which
couples are matched. Personal meeting with the foreign husband takes place only after marriage and after services are
tendered to the movement. The Filipino bride joins her husband and his family after all ceremonies is conducted.
An example is the Korean Moonies. In 1996, nine hundred eighty-four Filipino women were married in a Korean
sect ceremony, after being matched by a computer. A $2,000 fee is collected from the groom. Documented cases include
women eventually sold into prostitution upon arrival in Korea.
B.

Illegal Entry/Fraudulent Documents

Under this scheme, illegal aliens entered the country by means of air and sea transportation through the
various entry/exit points in the country. Another scheme is through the used of fraudulent documents such as fake
passports and visas. Another report says that there are thirty-one (31) illegal Chinese in Manila and were found to
be undocumented or overstaying as they were in possession of fake visa extension and forged official receipts.
Recently, twenty (20) Chinese women believed to be prostitutes were arrested because they had no valid travel
documents or working papers. What needs to be looked into is the reported corruption perpetrated by Philippine
diplomatic personnel and other agencies concerned.
Immigration personnel in NAIA intercepted five Chinese nationals holding stolen Japanese passports. The
five were the first batch of a group of 25 who planned to use Manila as a jump off point to the USA. The stolen
passports were bought from a Hongkong-based syndicate.

C.

Illegal Recruitment and Placement

Illegal recruitment is the recruitment activities undertaken by non-lincensees or non-holders of authority.
Certain features of illegal recruitment that constitutes offenses under the Revised Penal Code are:
a.

Estafa by falsely pretending to possess power, influence, qualification, property, credit, agency,
business or imaginary transactions or by means of other similar deceits.

b.

Falsification of public official documents

c.

Complex crime of estafa through falsification of public official documents

d.

Direct bribery

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Furthermore, Presidential Decree No. 1693, made illegal recruitment a crime of economic sabotage, that
is, committed by a syndicate or perpetrated on large scale.
The crime of illegal recruitment is committed by a syndicate if carried out by a group of three (3) or more
persons in conspiracy with another. On the other hand, it is deemed to be on a large scale when the same is
committed against 3 or more persons, individually or as a group.
Illegal recruitment of women for non-existent jobs abroad as domestics, entertainers or restaurant
workers succeed because of the presence of unscrupulous recruiters with local and international connections,
who usually operate with the protection of the police and the military.
Some even use impeccably legitimate documents to get Filipinos out of the country, only to exploit them
upon arrival in the foreign country through low-paying jobs and sub-standard working conditions, or by forcing
them into activities like prostitution or drug smuggling.
D.

Other modes
1.

Adoption Method
Here, Filipino mothers who have given birth abroad are deceived into signing adoption papers
after being led to believe that such adoption can indefinitely prolong their stay in the host country, only
to find out later that they have not only lost the right to stay in that country, but have also unwittingly
signed away their babies.
Children in the Philippines are also being smuggled out by foreigners who pretend to adopt
them and spirit them away into child labor markets abroad.

2.

Family Tours
Allegedly organized by unscrupulous travel agencies, a bogus family is booked on a tour of
certain countries, with one of the members of the family masquerading as the father and another as
the wife and mother. Children or minors with tampered passports complete the bogus family.
Upon entry into a foreign country, the bogus family is disbanded and everyone is employed in
vulnerable or illegal jobs earlier arranged for them.

3.

Religious pilgrimages
Traffickers ask victims, mostly women to join groups for religious tours/pilgrimages and
promise employment upon arrival in the host country. Some end up in bonded labor while others in
prostitution.

4.

Foreign training or internship

Students or newly graduates who are hired on a traineeship basis are made to work like
regular workers without the benefit of minimum wage, social benefits and standard working/living
conditions.

5.

Cultural exchange/promotion
A group, posting as artists, enters a country on a cultural exchange arrangement. After the
performances, the group disbands and each is fielded in other jobs. The au pair arrangement, under
the pretext of cultural exchange is also a form of exploiting women for unstable/insecure jobs, some
end in prostitution.

III. INITIATIVES AND COUNTER-MEASURES

A.

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE

International concern with slavery and its suppression is the theme of many treaties,
declarations and conventions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The first of three modern
conventions related to the issue is the Slavery Convention of 1926, drawn up by the League of Nations.

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With the approval of the General Assembly, the United Nations formally became the successor
to the League, in the application of the Slavery Convention in 1953. States which have ratified the
Convention - by 1990 86 had done so - undertake to prevent and suppress the slave trade to bring
about the abolition of slavery in all its forms.
In 1949, the General Assembly adopted the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in
Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. This legal instrument consolidated other
international agreements dating back to 1904.
The procurer rather than the prostitute is the target of the Convention. It requires States Parties
to introduce measures designed to prevent prostitution and to rehabilitate prostitutes.
States ratifying or acceding to the Convention - they numbered 60 by the end of 1990 - also
undertake to check the traffic in persons of either sex for the purpose of prostitution and to do away
with laws, regulations, special registration, and other requirements of persons who are engaged or
suspected of engaging in prostitution.
The 1926 Convention's definition of slavery was broadened to include the practices and
institutions of debt bondage, servile forms in marriage, and the exploitation of children and adolescents
in the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, adopted at a United Nations conference in
Geneva in 1956. The Supplementary Convention has been ratified or acceded to by 106 states.
Protection against abuses of human rights which fall within the broad definition of slavery is the feature of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the
Rights of the Child. Committees established under each Covenant and Convention monitor their implementation
by the States Parties.
The Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery has the general responsibility in the United Nations for
the study of slavery in all its aspects.
In addition, there are United Nations channels for receiving specific complaints of violations of human rights,
including those which merit the name of slavery.
Recently, a Global Program against Trafficking in Human Beings was launched by the United Nations Office for
Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) in March 1999 in Vienna International Center, Vienna, Austria, of
which its pilot project will be in the Philippines. This is being undertaken to enable governments and the
international community to respond to this worldwide problem. This program will bring to the foreground the
involvement of OCGs in smuggling and human trafficking and promote the development of effective criminal
justice system and other related responses. The program consists of an integrated package of policy-oriented
research and targets technical cooperation.

E.

REGIONAL INITIATIVE

During the Regional Meeting on Trafficking in Women, Forced Labor and Slavery-like Practices in Asia-Pacific,
held in Bangkok, Thailand on February 19-22, 1997, the participants called on the United Nations (UN)
Government and Non-Government Organizations to take part in the initiative against this issue.
They sought the United Nations to review the adequacy of the 1949 UN Convention for the Elimination of Traffic in
Persons and the Exploitation of Prostitution of Others in addressing the present conditions of trafficking. The
participants further suggested amendments of the 1949 Convention with new international instruments that will
better address the contemporary situation of trafficking in women. There was a move for the UN to appoint a
special rapporteur on trafficking from the Commission on Human Rights and that better resources to be provided
to the Committee on Elimination on All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Said committee shall investigate
and make general recommendations to the UN General Assembly on the situation of trafficking in women and
specific measures to combat trafficking.
As for the governments concerned, the same participants sought the immediate action on addressing and
minimizing the root causes of trafficking in women; developing and enforcing international and bilateral
agreements to eliminate the issue, ratifying and enforcing the UN Convention on the Rights of all Migrant Workers
and the Members of their Families and review other existing laws relative to this issue.

Furthermore, there was a recommendation for the governments to adopt a definition of

trafficking for use in legislation consistent with the view that trafficking of women is: All acts involved in

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the recruitment and/or transport of a woman within and across national borders for sale, work or
services by means of direct or indirect violence or threat of violence, abuse of authority or dominant
position, debt-bondage, deception or other forms of coercion.
In addition, the participants asked the governments to work together with non-government organizations in
developing a comprehensive national program to prevent trafficking and assist trafficked women with legal
assistance, health care, counseling, job training, rehabilitation and financial assistance as required.
On the part of non-government organizations (NGOs), the participants believed that they must lobby and work
together with their government to develop national policies and programs; to exchange information, to compile
data and conduct participatory action research; raise public awareness and encourage community involvement
and action; and cooperate with other non-government organizations working against trafficking and other related
issues.
Governments have yet to enact a specific law on anti-trafficking in persons. Though there are laws on prostitution,
child abuse, illegal recruitment, rape and other related crimes against persons, these are not comprehensive
enough, or may even be farfetched, to embrace the magnitude of human trafficking.
F.

PHILIPPINE INITIATIVES

The Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC), with its creation on January 16, 1999 under Executive
Order No. 62, is mandated to establish, through the use of modern information and telecommunication
technology, a shared central database, among government agencies for information on criminals, methodologies,
arrests and convictions of transnational crimes to include trafficking in persons, a center for strategic research on
the structure and dynamics of transnational crime, design programs and projects aimed at enhancing national
capacity building in combating transnational crime.

On the other hand, in order to solicit international and regional cooperation, the Philippine
Government offered to be the host of the ASEAN Center on Combating Transnational Crime (ACTC),
formerly dubbed as the ASEAN Center on Transnational Crime (ACOT). The Center shall act as the
central body to coordinate all actions against transnational crime, for use in the formulation of regional
policies and operational planning, for the development strategy in combating transnational crime in a
holistic manner and as a medium of dialogue between ASEAN parties. The proposal was submitted
during the 6th ASEAN Summit on December 15, 1998 at Hanoi, Vietnam.
The Philippine Government formally offered such proposal for the creation of the ACTC in the
2nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime in Yangoon, Myanmar on 21-23 June 1999. As
a result, the Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have agreed to set up a regional
center in the Philippines. They also agreed to develop closer cooperation with other countries, regional
organizations and international organizations including the United Nations.
Even before this, the government has enacted several laws to address child trafficking. A
significant law is Republic Act 7610 that provides for stronger deterrence and special protection against
child abuse, exploitation and discrimination and corresponding penalties. It defines the responsibilities
of parents, social workers and government workers toward the protection of the children's right. It also
specifies sanctions against individuals, establishments and enterprises that promote or facilitate
conditions that hinder the child's development. However, a specific law on human trafficking to cover all
gender and age, should be adopted. In its absence, law enforcement agencies have to contend with
existing laws related to it.
Other government agencies and non-government offices have concerted their efforts to address
the issue of trafficking in persons. Policy-oriented researches and information drives have been
conducted by concerned agencies.

IV.

THREAT ANALYSIS

State labor exports policies and programs and the international demand for cheap labor abroad have facilitated
the massive migration of men and women for work. Government and private sector recruiters have developed a
legitimizing system to respond to and diffuse local pressures of unemployment. At the same time, crime syndicates,
stoking and profiting from the growing demand for bought sex have successfully exploited the possibilities offered by the
labor migration phenomenon and contributed to the worldwide explosion of the issue.

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Basically, there are a lot of reasons for migration. In the Philippines, the main driving force for Filipinos to migrate
abroad is economic in nature, specifically poverty alleviation or the materialistic desire for higher economic status and
power. Notwithstanding the risk of possible exploitation and danger as experienced by other overseas workers in the past,
still there are some that decide to pursue their ambitions and venture in alien lands.

The aftermath of inter-marriages employing the different schemes mentioned previously, as a form of migration is
considered as human rights abuses which the government and non-government agencies have to further look into.
Domestic violence is a result of matchmaking schemes. Filipino women are unaware or have not been sufficiently alerted
to this form of exploitation to which they may be subjected. Usually, they end up as slaves/sex slaves and/or abused by
their husbands. Sometimes, their own partners force them to prostitution. Another effect is Parental Abuse of Authority.
The parents play a vital role in matchmaking. Due to economic difficulty, the parents sometimes become witting conduits
of matchmaking by pushing their daughters to pursue marriage with foreigners whom they believe would relieve them
from financial burden. Said scheme starts through correspondence, phone calls, or by personal introduction. The foreigner
pursues personal visits and soon arrangement of a wedding takes place. Sometimes, minors are even enticed, resulting
to child abuse. The reports of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, according to CFO, state that children of
Filipino brides are usually victims of abuse by their father/stepfather. This is due to the cultural and personal differences
and lack of proper engagement period of both husband and wife. Isolation and cultural alienation are the result of having
no knowledge or lack of awareness regarding the disadvantages of matchmaking schemes. The Filipino bride is not only
locked up at home and bonded in labor to the partner, but also is also alienated to her environment.
Outside the confines of home and country, women and girls become more vulnerable to prostitution and
exploitation. Yet the continued and rising of mobility of women does bring advantages and benefits, putting them in an
impasse, torn as they are between the limited but safer options at home, and the higher risks but also better economic
rewards in cities and in foreign shores.

Though the Philippine economy is gradually improving ahead of other ASEAN nations due to the bulk of foreign
remittances by the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), which incidentally has reached US$13.8 Billion, the sense of
values within some sectors in the government, the society and the family are slowly deteriorating. In view of increasing
number of overseas workers, the Filipinos have been regarded as prime commodity, degrading not only the worker but
also the nation as a whole commodity.
As of this date, much remains to be done in the area of policy and program development to prevent and protect
Filipinos from exploitation. A wide gap still exists between the laws and the rhetoric we adopt and the attitudes and
practices we act out. Each citizen has a strategic role to play in closing these gaps.
The influx of illegal aliens in the country has become a worsening problem. As a matter of fact, a lot of Chinese
come in illegally as traders thus destabilizing business and commerce. As a result, the government is deprived of
revenues from this illegal activity, thereby hampering the economic recovery.
Illegal aliens pose as a social burden and may be involved in various criminal activities or form part of the cells of
international organized crime groups. Their entry further destabilizes our economy and national security and stability.
The problem may lie on the enforcement and implementation of immigration laws, focusing not on the syndicates
or OCGs but to the victims themselves.
Likewise, the extradition treaties and diplomatic ties with other countries
have made the Philippines helpless in pursuing cases against foreign nationals.
Human smuggling is so lucrative that syndicates resort to any method they can conceive to rake in huge profits
without regard for the legal, moral or social implications of their nefarious activities. In turn, the income generated from
these illegal activities goes to the financing of legal business ventures thereby accumulating profit that is laundered or
placed in foreign accounts. Money laundering then becomes another issue of mutual concern. There is a possibility that
the Philippines is one of the repository of laundered money.
V.

CONCLUSION:

Although there are many reports on increasing number of local case studies on problems of smuggling
and trafficking in persons, little attention is given to the nature and development of organized crime
involvement. The lack of such study hampers the formulation and adequate implementation of an effective
national and international strategy.
In many countries, smuggling of human beings is not effectively controlled and prevented. Government
policies and the practice of border control, immigration, police and justice agency concentrate on the illegal
aspect of migration, leaving aside the major role of the involvement of organized criminal groups in the
smuggling of human beings. As a consequence, the primary targets of central intervention are the illegal

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migrants, not the criminal organization involved in the smuggling and exploitation of human beings. Existing
laws do not provide up to date regulation to deal with such trafficking, particularly activities carried out by
transnational criminal organization. Moreover, national policies have yet to provide effective tools to dismantle
organized crime structure and their transnational alliance.
Some countries do not have the capacity to respond adequately to problem on trafficking in person. The reasons
for these are manifold: limited law enforcement capability; lack of expertise in the judicial sectors, insufficient coordination
between law enforcement agencies, flaws on the criminal justice system and other concerned institutions.
At the international level, framework of cooperation among law enforcement and justice official of different
countries are inadequate resulting to inefficient investigation, prosecution and adjudication of cases involving trafficking in
persons. Coordination on both the national and international levels is a must; it should be the rule and not the exemption.
Victims of trafficking may often lose more than what they gain when cooperating with the justice system. In many
countries, such persons are considered perpetrators of illegal acts rather than victims of crime and are, therefore,
persecuted for violations of immigration laws, prostitution or criminal or statutory offenses that are legally subsumed under
the terms indecent behavior, vagrancy and the like. Lack of adequate witnesses and witness protection programs may
result in reduced efficiency of investigation, prosecution and court proceedings.
The lack of information
on the general public on trafficking of persons, the extent of organized criminal groups involvement in trafficking in
persons, the ineptness or corruption in concerned government agencies and the fate of the victims of this illicit activity
make the situation even worse. In fact, the would be victims of trafficking - women, children, their parents or guardians
are unaware of and have not been sufficiently alerted to the various forms of exploitation to which they may be subjected
to.
The solution to the worsening problem should be the extermination of its root causes - the transnational
syndicates that exploit the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the victims, not the victims themselves.
The new paradigm on law enforcement, focusing on international cooperation coupled with proper coordination,
sincere exchange of vital information, legislative adjustments that are tuned with the calls of times and stricter
implementation of laws by the State parties, is viewed as an effective response to the challenges of this cancer-like
problem.
VI.

RECOMMENDATIONS
1.

Legislation of a law against Trafficking in Persons, providing stiff penalties to traffickers considering that it
is a crime vs. humanity.

2.

Sustained efforts of the Commission of Filipinos Overseas (CFO) with regard to community mobilization,
legislation, intensified education programs and close linkages between service providers.

3.

Implementation and stricter enforcement of laws not against the trafficked persons but on the illegal
recruiters and their abusive employers.

4.

More synergy among law enforcement agencies and concerned government agencies with the active
involvement and coordination of non-government organizations.

5.

Stricter enforcement, control and implementation of immigration laws.

6.

Adoption of a universal law against trafficking/smuggling in persons.

7.

Conduct of in-depth studies on effective monitoring and control of illicit transactions through the Internet.

8.

Formulation of house bills to consider the Internet as an illegal means of trafficking in persons.

9.

Develop a computerized system of monitoring citizens leaving and returning the country.

10.

Address the problem of corruption and ineptness of the Philippine Embassies and labor attaches abroad.

PCTC PAPER ON DRUG TRAFFICKING

I. THE PROBLEM
The underworld has virtually taken a new role in the geopolitical order with the establishment of a semiideological institution known as narcocracy. It replaced communism as the new threat to democracy and to

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the political, social, economic and military security of individual states. It has subtly invaded almost all
countries of the world and is now actively participating in running the economic and political affairs of some
states to the extent of dictating courses of action of governments or worst, monopolizing the administration of
government.
Narcocracy has established an underground empire which has more power, wealth and status
than many nations. It flies no flag on the terrace of the United Nations, but it has larger armies, more
capable intelligence agencies, more influential diplomatic services than many countries do. It relies
solely on underground capitalism with profit as its primary orientation and drugs as the main subject of
commerce. Its strategy is bribery directed against those occupying sensitive positions in government or
participating in political exercises by shouldering the bulk of the financial requirements of political parties. Its
social activity is giving off dole outs in the form of money with the end in view of influencing decision making or
exerting pressure on concerned personalities to further their interests.
By and large, narcocracy is the resurrection of communism for it employs practically the same strategy adopted by
the former Soviet Union in extending the iron curtain to the Eastern European Countries, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia. It combines the domino doctrine and the manifest destiny in penetrating the very seat of government of
sovereign states and employ the most subtle of all tactics to evade the scrutinizing eyes of law enforcement agencies.
Thus, it portrait itself as a pressure group or an interest group or combine legitimate business with drug trade. But as it
expand its operation, it undermines the national power of the legitimate government to the extent of incapacitating the
same in the performance of its function including the delivery of basic services to its constituents. It is at this point that
government and the people themselves feel the adverse impact of this seemingly legal endeavor and begin to confront
the same as a criminal activity. However, in the assessment of the extent of the problem, the drug trade has already
completed its task of criminalizing the bureaucracy from the most sensitive to the least recognized position in
government. Hence, a gargantuan task by few good men to boldly declare war on drugs has to be conceptualized. For
unless urgent and decisive measures are implemented, the drug trade will continue to flourish because there is practically
no indication that it will disappear by itself. If it remains unabated,

it can threaten the very existence of our states, our people, our culture and
deprive us of a civilized identity. Hence there is an urgent need for an all out struggle
against this calamity.

II. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE DRUG PROBLEM

The drug trade dates back during the 16 th century when Great Britain begun exploring new territories in
the Far East in search for raw materials to sustain its industrial revolution. It was in this exploration process,
and in the acquisition of new territories, that the opium poppy and the Indian hemp were discovered to be
abundant along the fertile crescent, extending from the Persian Gulf to the heart of China particularly in the
Yunnan Provinces and then to the Indo-China territories. This was originally utilized for medical purposes by
the Chinese and in religious ceremonies by the Buddhists. The commodity was then regularly exported to
Great Britain and because of its sedative and addiction effects, was utilized mostly by British soldiers in their
wars with other colonial powers of Europe.
The increasing demand for this commodity prompted Great Britain to further pressure China to cultivate
and produce opium as a major crop primarily for export. However, China recognizing the adverse effect of the
commodity on the populace if unregulated and abused, passed an Imperial Decree regulating and limiting the
production and utilization of opium. Hence, it has to turn down the request of the British government. What
followed was the imposition, by the latter, of military sanctions forcing China to declare war on Great Britain
known in history as the Opium War. China was vanquished and has to accede to the terms and conditions
imposed by the victor which includes among others the repeal of the Anti-Opium Law of the emperor, increase
in the production and exportation of opium and occupation by Great Britain of all the shoreline territories of
China including Shanghai and Hongkong. The drug trade flourished which encouraged other colonial powers
to force their colonies to produce the same commodity. Macau and Indo-China were pressured to produce and
exported opium to Portugal and Franch respectively until these colonial powers themselves begun to
recognized the ill-effects of drugs on their own people. Laws were passed regulating the same until it was
declared as illegal forcing the trade to go underground. Thus the struggle against drugs and the drug trade
begun.
III.

A) THE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE ON THE DRUG TRADE

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Most organized crimes have developed and transformed themselves into transnational criminal corporations with home
base in their place of origin but operate illegally in other countries thereby transcending national boundaries hence, the
term transnational crime. These include the Italian Mafia, the Chinese Triads, the Japanese Yakuza, the American
Mafia, and Medellin and Cali Cartels of Columbia. They deal primarily with drugs as a source of income to finance other
criminal endeavors and utilizing extortion, corruption, blackmail, threat and use of physical force to facilitate their
transactions.
The American Mafia which rose during the Prohibition period had been a marginal player in the cocaine industry and
ultimately decline largely because of its being very familiar to law enforcement agencies, the criminal justice system was
invulnerable to intimidation and corruption and the political system and police itself were professionalized.
On the other hand, the Medellin and the Cali Cartels of Columbia prolonged with impunity their drug trafficking activities
because their organization was comfortably built on the purchase of broad political influence, in addition to their
successful intimidation of law enforcement authorities. This allowed the principals to freely launder the proceeds of this
crime to real properties within and outside Columbia and since the profit was enormous a systematic corruption and
criminalization of the Colombian bureaucracy was effected. The cocaine cartels even tried to distort the diplomatic
policies of Columbia to the extent of offering to pay Columbias foreign debt of more than $10 billion if the extradition treaty
between Columbia and the United States is abrogated. The same scenario took place in Bolivia when one of its drug
barons, Roberto Suarez Gomez offered to pay Bolivias foreign debt in exchange for the release of his son who was
imprisoned in the United States on drug charges. The Colombian Cartels were able to expand their activities to almost all
the coastline countries of South America using precisely the same tactic that of criminalizing the bureaucracy by paying
huge amount of money to bribe those occupying sensitive positions in government. What is unique in Brazil was the fact
that drug barons were able to effectively control the shanty towns of Rio del Janeiro known as ghettos. Official
government authority is eroded and can only be maintained by increasingly oppressive means. The wealthy live
in walled and guarded prison like enclaves and become increasingly alienated from others less fortunate than
themselves. Corruption is widespread. The police become persecutors, not protectors. The agents of the state
are seen as assassins. The state becomes the enemy and the ghettos a state within a state. The people are
trapped in the crossfire. The area is characterized by misery, extreme violence and death. In the trafficking of
drugs to the United States and other countries, the cocaine cartels were able to assume a transnational corporation status
largely utilizing Panama as a transhipment point, a country which was also placed at the mercy of the South American
drug lords. The Panama Canal is an ideal place for the transportation of drugs to different countries of the world since
many ship frequently traverse the canal en route to the Asia Pacific and European Countries considering that 85% of
world shipping industries are of Panamanian Registry. The administration of Manuel Noriega benefited from that drug
trade and Noriega himself was charged by the United states as a drug baron causing the invasion of Panama leading to
his arrest to stand trial in the United States for drug trafficking charges.

In Europe, the Italian Mafia has grown from a local to a transnational criminal corporation generating
huge amount of income largely from the drug trade which ranges form $21.5 billion to $24 billion a year. It has
even forged alliances with Latin American and Russian Mafia establishing a transnational drug network that
facilitates the movement of drugs from one country to another having favorable markets for this commodity.
Russia was the newest state to join the organization of drug inflicted countries with the establishment of
the Russian Mafia which rose from the rubbles of the Soviet Union followed by political, economic and social
unrest within what was left of the union. Narcotics trafficking became a foundation of the global criminal power
of organized groups generating and controlling 25% of Russian GNP.
Many countries of the world have been afflicted by the menace including Mexico, members of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and some African countries. Other states are vulnerable prey and
will soon experience the scourge of drugs as transnational criminal corporations continue to establish
strongholds in countries that offer favorable market and a favorable environment for drug investment and
laundering of drug proceeds.
B. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGAINST DANGEROUS DRUGS
Even prior to the establishment of the United Nations in 1945 and its precursor, the League of Nation of
1919, international initiatives to arrest the proliferation of the drug trade was already in place. Countries of
Europe and Asia were gathered in Shanghai, China to explore regional cooperation on drugs in 1909 and their
efforts were consolidated and finally ratified in 1912. However, the agreement died a nature death as isolation
and nationalism prevailed among European Countries manifested by military aggression and territorial
expansion.
With the establishment of the United Nations, representatives of member states, recognizing the
adverse effects of drugs, were able to consolidate national differences and arrived at generally accepted
agreements and conventions which are enforceable in accordance with the constitutional processes and

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national laws of individual states. These were primarily designed to curve the spread of dangerous drugs and
psychotropic substances. These international laws on narcotics control are:
1.

The 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

The 1961 Single convention on Narcotic Drugs is designed to prevent drug addiction through
cooperation between and among states. It provides among other things that the possession, use,
trade in, distribution, import, export, manufacture and production of drugs is exclusively limited to
medical and scientific purposes. It is primarily designed to prohibit the abuse of drugs, prevent its
diversion to other purposes not specifically mentioned which would be injurious to health, establish an
international system to guide signatory-states in penalizing violators of the convention, and
institutionalized the establishment of an International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to oversee the
manufacture of drugs for purposes mentioned in the convention.
Attached to this convention is a protocol ratified in 1972 amending the 1961 convention which obligate states to
establish institutions that will provide treatment and rehabilitation of addicts and drug dependents.

2.

The 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances

This international agreement calls on member states to initiate measures to control the
proliferation of advance forms of drugs such as pharmaceutical and synthetic drugs to include
sedatives, hypnotic, psychostimulants, and hallucinogens and to establish measures to penalize
violators of the agreement.
3.
The 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances.
This convention rally member states to take necessary measures, including legislative and
administrative measures, in conformity with the fundamental provisions of their respective domestic
legislative systems to halt the spread of drugs and psychotropic substances. It specifically prohibits the
following:
a)

i) The production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, offering, offering for sale,

distribution, sale, delivery on any terms whatsoever, brokerage, dispatch, dispatch in
transit, transport, importation or exportation of any narcotic drug or any psychotropic
substance
ii)
The cultivation of opium poppy, coca bush or cannabis plant for the purpose of the
production of narcotic drugs
iii) The possession or purchase of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substances
iv) The manufacture, transport or distribution of equipment, materials or of substances..
knowing that they are to be used in or for the illicit cultivation, production or manufacture of
narcotic drugs or psychotrotreptin substances.
v) The organization, management or financing of any of the offenses enumerated above.

b)

i) The conversion or transfer of property, knowing that such property is derived form any
offense or offences as mentioned above or from an act of participation in such offense or
offenses, for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the property or with
assisting any person who is involved in the commission of such an offense or offenses to
evade the legal consequences of his actions.
ii) The concealment or disguise of the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement,
rights with respect to, or ownership of property, knowing that such property is derived from

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an offense or offenses established therein or from act of participation in such offense or
offenses.
Several governmental organizations accredited by the United Nations were established as operating
arm in the fight against drug trafficking. Among these are: the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, International
Narcotics Control Board, United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control, Opium De-Addiction Treatment, Drug
Abuse Prevention Programme, and many other related international organizations.

IV.

A) THE REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE DRUG TRADE

The Southeast Asian Region is a hot spot in relation to the drug trade. Many countries of the region
are either producers, manufacturers and exporters of drugs and many organized criminal syndicates that deal
on drugs originate from the region. China is a leading producer of opium poppy cultivated along the Yunnan
Provinces and is also actively engaged in the manufacture and trafficking of methamphetamine hydrochloride
or shabu. The Golden Triangle which includes Burma, Thailand and Laos produce and manufacture opium
and heroin. These products are also produced by Afghanistan, Pakistan and India including Nepal which
cultivates Indian hemp along the Himalaya Mountains. Burma in particular openly cultivates opium poppy as a
major cash crop and is one of the leading producers of this commodity in the world. On the other hand,
cannabis (marijuana) is produced and exported from Cambodia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and
Indonesia.
These drug crops are trafficked or smuggled to foreign countries particularly to those offering safe
havens such as those with favorable market environment, weak criminal justice system, corrupt law
enforcement, immigration and customs officials and politicians, and a weak border protection and immigration
laws. These are the national conditions that favor the entry of transnational criminal corporations within their
territories. Thus, the Chinese Triads based in Hongkong, which were established in China during the reign of
the Ching Dynasty, specialize in the trafficking of drugs to different parts of the world. These triads include the
Wo Hop To, 14K, Sun Ye On, Wo Sing Wo, United Bamboo Gang, Four Seas Gang, and Big Circle Boys. They
generate huge profit from their drug trade and utilize the same to bribe officials of the host state to provide
them with unhampered criminal operations.
The Japanese Yakuza on the other hand is also an international criminal agent of drugs. It is divided
into three groups: the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Inagawa-kai and the Sumiyushi-kai. They are engaged in drug
trafficking, smuggling of firearms, illegal gambling, money laundering, and sex trade. They are aggressively
operating not only in the Asia-Pacific region but throughout the world.
B) REGIONAL INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS THE DRUG TRADE

Considering the horrible drug trade situation in Southeast Asia, the members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are continuously pooling their resources to effectively address drug
trafficking. The member states recognize the fact that because of the transnational character of this menace,
no single state in the region can effectively address the problem on its own initiative. They proposed a
comprehensive regional approach to the problem which led to the intensification of dialogues among ASEAN
members. Several ASEAN bodies were formed to address this threat to include the ASEAN Chiefs of National
Police (ASEANAPOL) which consolidate efforts of National Police Forces, enhance regional law enforcement
cooperation and harmonize policing system in the region, the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD)
which focuses on drug related activities, and the ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting (AFMM) which is
concerned with customs enforcement, anti-smuggling and money laundering. Recently, the ASEAN Ministers
of Interior/Home Affairs meeting was first hosted by the Philippines on December 18-20, 1997. The three day
summit resulted in the signing of the ASEAN Declaration on Transnational Crime which includes the
establishment of an ASEAN Center on Transnational Crime (ACOT) to coordinate regional efforts against
transnational crimes through intelligence sharing, harmonization of policies and coordination of operations.
Several centers are also established to help in the resolution of this menace. Among these are the
ASEAN Training Center for Narcotic Law Enforcement (Bangkok), ASEAN Training Center for Preventive Drug
Education (Manila), ASEAN Training Center for Treatment and Rehabilitation (Kuala Lumpur), ASEAN Training

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Center for the Declaration of Drugs in Body Fluids (Singapore), and the ASEAN Center on Transnational Crime
(Manila).
The Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP) is also a regional agency that
monitors and analyses developments and trends and prescribes plans, programs and policies for the
advancement of harmonious relations within the Asia-Pacific. They conduct extensive strategic researches and
international studies, the results of which are indispensable in the formulation of legislative and administrative
measures as well as national and regional policies.

III.

A) DRUG TRADE: THE PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCE

The drug problem in the Philippines is very serious than we realize it to be. Everyday, daily newspapers bombard us of
drug pushers, users, traffickers, drug lords to include foreigners being apprehended by law enforcement authorities.
Almost everyday also, we read or witness authorities proudly declaring the recovery of several grams or several kilos of
shabu or marijuana including drug related paraphernalia or the burning of huge volume of drugs in police camps. We also
witness many incidents of rape, killings and robberies and other heinous crimes perpetrated by drug-crazed individuals.
Apart from these are more shocking news that the Philippines is being utilized as a transhipment point of drugs by
transnational criminal organizations, that government officials are involved in the drug trade, that shabu laboratories are
operating in the Philippines , and that shabu are being sold in ordinary stores like any other commodity. These, however,
are just symptoms, visible signs or what we call the tip of the iceberg. Hidden from the naked eye is the horrifying
menace: WE ARE IN THE GRIP OF POWERFUL DRUG SYNDICATES.

Indeed, transnational criminal organizations such as the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Triads are
actively operating in the country. Many of those apprehended by the law enforcement authorities are of foreign
nationals specifically Chinese and Japanese and many of them are languishing in jail on drug-related charges.
The recent controversy within the Philippine National Police was ignited by the arrest of big time drug lords like
Rafael Madraso who is of a Filipino-Chinese decent, Vicente Sy, Chua Hong Que alias Tony Chua, and Jimmy
Hung Kin Sing alias Jimmy Ang who are all Chinese nationals.
No less than Commissioner Alejandro P Melchor III of the Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission
has specifically identified the extent of illegal drug activities in the Philippines as follows:
1.

The RP is a producer, exporter and consumer of cannabis plant-based drugs (marijuana, hashish,
et al).

2.

The RP is an importer and consumer of synthetic drugs, in particular methamphetamine

hydrochloride (shabu).

3.
4.

The RP is a transit point for the international trade in heroin and cocaine.
The RP is being used as a recreation place, an investment and money laundering haven, and a
hiding place for international drug syndicates, some of whom envision it as a regional headquarters
in the near future.

The drug menace has also infiltrated Malacaang, the seat of President Estradas government.
Recently, two Malacaang employees were caught in the act of sniffing shabu within the Malacaang grounds.
It confirms therefore that this menace operates under the very nose of our government and our law making the
war against drug syndicates an urgent task of good and dedicated men.
B.

THE PHILIPPINE CONDITION FAVORABLE TO THE DRUG TRADE

Crimes thrive in societies suffering from social, political and economic crises. The Philippines is just
starting to emerge from the economic slow down that has plague the Southeast Asian region accompanied by
the rapid devaluation of the peso, closure of many multinational corporations and banks, rise in the prices of
basic commodities and recently, the increase in the prices of oil. All of these definitely lead to unemployment,
mass layoff and poverty, a favorite breeding ground of the drug trade which is viewed as an alternative source
of income. The devaluation of the peso has attracted drug lords to launder money into the country considering
the high value of the dollar. The crisis has left the national treasury virtually bankrupt prompting the
government to call for nationwide fiscal stringency and went further to lessen the budget of operating agencies
thereby adversely affecting the law enforcement campaign capability against drug trafficking.

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To hasten economic recovery, the government is continuously inviting foreign investors and multinational
corporations to do business in the country. The Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) of
President Estrada seeks to alleviate the countrys poverty through liberalization, deregulation, and globalization
to create a market-friendly environment for foreign investors. It is also concentrating a large amount of
government funds to boost tourism in the country to attract foreigners. Apart from this, the government is
attracting dollar inflow into the national coffer to help stabilize the peso. All of these offer a great convenience
for transnational criminal organizations like the Chinese Triads and the Japanese Yakuza to enter the country
under the guise of multinational corporations. This economic environment also encourage the influx of foreign
criminals or members of the transnational criminal organizations into the country with ease masquerading as
legitimate investors and tourists. This economic approach to social progress has also beef up the entry of
illegal goods and services including drugs since laws on the movement of these commodities are being relaxed
in the spirit of liberalization and deregulation.
The banking system of the Philippines provides a very safe haven for proceeds from the drug trade.
Philippine banks are among the most secretive in the world similar to Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Monaco,
Cyprus, and the Netherlands Antilles but is not as secretive as Austria which allows anonymous bank
accounts. Philippine banks are not required to report suspicious currency transaction and may divulge bank
accounts only upon lawful orders of the courts. Laws on the transport of Philippine currency are also very
lenient. Thus, transnational criminal organizations take advantage of this banking environment because their
funds will be definitely out of reach by law enforcement and BIR authorities.
Geographically, the Philippines is at the cross road between the Asian drug-producing and exporting
countries and the Pacific drug-dependent countries. It is therefore strategically located making it vulnerable to
transnational criminal corporations primarily as a transit point and at the same time a market for drugs. Apart
from this is the archipelagic condition of the Philippines which is composed of many islands and islets
scattered south of Taiwan and north of Borneo and Indonesia thereby creating a very long and broken
coastlines around the archipelago. It is therefore very difficult and even very expensive to effectively patrol
these coastlines rendering them virtually unguarded making it vulnerable to drug trafficking and smuggling.
On the other hand, the political system of the country including law enforcement is power and not service
oriented making professionalization difficult to introduce. Politicians and other government employees see
themselves as masters and not servants of the people, a situation which is an open prey to graft and
corruption. Enrichment in office is a primary motivation as manifested by the assets and liabilities of members
of Congress as published in newspapers. This political environment aggravated by a meager salary is
exploited by drug lords who have in their possession huge amount of money generated from the drug trade.
Only "professional public servants" would reject the offer but many would sacrifice public service with selfinterest. The recent developments within the PNP, even if it will not be proven to be true, is a classical example
of how public officials are prone to bribery and how power can influence the course of an endeavor in favor of
drug lords. According to a 1998 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released by the US Bureau for
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Philippine law enforcement efforts suffer from
corruption of police, customs and military officials. Judicial corruption is also acknowledged to be an
impediment to drug prosecutions.
The social condition of the people also offers a favorable drug market. Approximately seventy five percent (75%)
of the countrys seventy four million (74 million) Filipinos are still living below the poverty line. As such, people are easily
agitated to sow social unrest to call for social reforms thereby diverting attention of law enforcement authorities to this
problem rather that threats from the outside primarily drug trafficking. The cravings for food and money drive individuals to
ran errands for drug lords thus making the drug trade as a source of livelihood. Worst, children whose parents cannot
afford to feed them sniff drugs to stop the hunger gnawing at their stomachs. Entertainers, drivers and conductors take
shabu to let them stay awake and perform overtime works for additional incentives. Children of middle class, educated
families take shabu during review and examinations thus increasing the clients of drug lords.
C)

IMPACT OF THE DRUG TRADE ON PHILIPPINE

SOCIETY

The effect of the drug trade on Philippine society is very appalling especially if we rely on surveys and figures.
Based on the assessment of the National Drug Law Enforcement and Prevention Coordinating Center (NDLEPCC), 14%
of the 42,979 barangays of the Philippines or a total of 6,020 barangays are drug-infested. In Metro Manila alone, 35% or
604 of its 1,692 barangays are under the control of drugs. The drug users comprises approximately 5% or 3.7 million of
the 74 million Filipinos of which according to the NDLEPCC echoing the survey of the National Youth Commission (NYC),

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7% or approximately 1.2 million of the total youth population of 17 million ages 15 to 29 are drug users. This figures will
eventually increase if the drug trade remains unabated. It is probably from these data that prompted the PNP Narcotics
Group to declare that the drug problem is the number one threat to national security to include political, economic and
social security.
The political security of the country will continue to be seriously undermined because of the corrupt values of
people in government who are desperately in need of financial resources to sustain basic necessities aggravated by
meager income. They will naturally succumb to temptations offered by drug lords who have huge financial resources at
their disposal in return for unhampered drug activities. If this remains uncorrected, the drug lords will become even more
powerful and can participate in governmental decision making or exert tremendous pressure on government officials to
perform acts favorable to the drug lords but inimical to the general welfare. They can even secretly finance political parties
or contribute to the campaign requirements of a candidate, such that if their favored candidate is elected, they can ask
favor in relation to their activities which is sometimes difficult to turn down considering the well entrenched Filipino value of
utang na loob. Drug lords can infiltrate social development initiatives of national and local governments through donations
or contributions. In this way, they assimilate themselves with the people thus winning their hearts and minds conducive to
exploitation.
Another area where drug lords can penetrate is the problem of insurgency and secessionism. The drug lords can
finance the activities of these rebel groups to create social unrest or sow terror in order to shift government attention from
the drug trade to this political problem. They can even utilize these rebel groups as agents of the trade or as instruments
to encourage widespread addiction or intimidate the populace and force them to be drug clients or as protectors of their
interests.

On the other hand, the drug trade may create an imbalance resulting to inflation because of enormous profit
laundered into the financial system not supported by currency or gold reserves. Criminal business becomes a leader
subordinating legitimate businesses. This facilitates the transfer of ownership of productive assets into criminal hands
leading to monopoly of crucial industries to a point where legitimate businessmen can no longer compete. This can lead to
economic distortion because of massive pullout of capital from speculative investments. In an attempt to convert profit
from the drug trade into clean financial assets to make it appear that it originated from legitimate business, other
economic crimes are committed such as bank fraud, trading malpractice, tax evasion, and smuggling of raw cash across
international borders, all of which can destabilize the national capital market.
In threatening the social security of the state, drug trade takes its toll on the ordinary citizens ranging from drug
addiction to other forms of criminal activities. The abuser definitely suffers short term and long term toxic effects including
less productive life, drug dependence, mental, emotional and physical disorders and exposure to transmissible diseases
such as AIDS, hepatitis and tuberculosis.
The family shares the agony to include violence against family members, child abuse, rape, poverty, separation of
spouses, and definitely a broken family.
The state on the other hand will be crippled of productive work force. Law enforcement authorities will be facing
increasing volume of crimes from the most petty to the most bizarre. The Dangerous Drugs Board states that 75% of the
crimes committed are attributable to drugs. Apart from this is the responsibility of the government in rehabilitating drug
addicts so that they will be assets when they return to society.
D) PCTCS PROPOSED SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM

The drug problem can be addressed through the following:

1.
Inclusion of dangerous drugs and related subjects as part of the regular curriculum of schools. This is a
more down to earth solution to the problem founded on the idea that a person with strong character and
determination will say no to drugs even in the face of all temptations. This will allow him to build up his will power
and make him realize that only he and he alone can eliminate the drug habit and that he no longer needs to rely
on drugs to enjoy the happy life he craves for.
2.
Parental intervention based on the fact that parents exercise primary responsibility in preventing their
children from being hooked on drugs. Appropriate sanctions should be institutionalized and imposed on parents
who fail to effectively exercise this primary responsibility.
3.
Devolution of the anti-drug campaign program of the government to the local government units. The mayors
and barangay chairmen will lead their local policemen and barangay tanods, respectively, in clearing their
territorial jurisdictions from the menace of dangerous drugs. This is very effective because monitoring of activities
of their constituents can be undertaken. Thus, drug users and pushers including big time suppliers can be easily
identified and the necessary remedies can be effected within their levels. National agencies with drug functions
will act as monitoring agencies and exercise administrative control and supervision over the anti-drug campaign of

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local governments with power to recommend and impose administrative sanctions against local chief executives
who fail to eradicate dangerous drug activities in their area.
4.
The national dangerous drug agencies should coordinate with church leaders and cause-oriented
groups to help in the anti-drug campaign. The church and civic leaders should help educate their constituents on
the adverse effects of drugs and rally them to repudiate the proliferation of the menace and to help create an
environment of vigilance against dangerous drugs.
5.
The same national drug agencies should establish partnership with the tri-media to help in the
information campaign against this menace. Dangerous drugs should be one of the subjects of TV hosts and
advertisements, spearheaded by popular media personalities and sport stars, to create awareness on the ill
effects of drugs and to motivate ordinary citizens to report drug related activities to proper authorities.
6.
The national drug law enforcement centers and agencies will continue with their anti-drug activities to
purge the society of drug lords and organized criminal syndicates specializing on drugs.
7.
The Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) will perform its mandated functions and
specifically monitor and identify foreign nationals engaged in drug trafficking, identify foreign sources of drugs,
trace movements of drugs from other countries to the Philippines, and gather data on how these drugs are able to
enter Philippine territory without being detected by concerned authorities and agencies. The PCTC will coordinate
with regional and international organizations for a regional or international cooperation approach to this
transnational crime to include the possible creation of a regional task force against dangerous drugs to facilitate
apprehension of foreign nationals operating within the Southeast Asian Region.
8.
The PCTC will conduct a feasibility study for the adoption of a national policy or for the legislation of a
suspicionless, random drug testing law for the sake of public safety and human productivity. The City of Manila
has already started with this proposition by virtue of an ordinance passed by the City Council requiring a
compulsory drug testing to all high school students to be conducted before enrollment. A national law should be
passed similar to this ordinance which should apply not only to high school students but also to college students,
government employees and all company workers. The law should also require drug testing for all electorates
because drug abuse undermines an objective and intelligent decision on political issues. In this case, public
health, public safety and national security in particular and the common good in general takes precedence over
private rights.

Notices
One of INTERPOLs most important functions is to help police in member countries share critical crime-related information using
the organizations system of international notices.
Based on requests from National Central Bureaus (NCBs), the General Secretariat produces notices in all of the organizations
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International Criminal Court to seek persons wanted for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The seven types of notices and their objectives are:
Red Notice
To seek the arrest or provisional arrest of wanted
persons with a view to extradition.
View recently published Red Notices
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Yellow Notice
To help locate missing persons, often minors, or to
help identify persons who are unable to identify
themselves.

Blue Notice
To collect additional information about a persons
identity or activities in relation to a crime.

Black Notice
To seek information on unidentified bodies.

Green Notice
To provide warnings and criminal intelligence
about persons who have committed criminal
offences and are likely to repeat these crimes in
other countries.

Orange Notice
To warn police, public entities and other
international organizations about potential threats
from disguised weapons, parcel bombs and other
dangerous materials.

NB: Criteria governing the issuance of Green Notices

Page 59 of 59
INTERPOL-United Nations
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Issued for groups and
individuals who are the targets
of UN sanctions against Al
Qaeda and the Taliban.

Purple Notice
To provide information on modi operandi,
procedures, objects, devices and hiding places
used by criminals.

WARNING
The person should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
If a member of the public has any information about a wanted person, they should contact the police where the person has been
located or identified directly, not the INTERPOL General Secretariat.
An official INTERPOL Wanted Fugitives list is maintained on the INTERPOL website. This information may be copied and
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