Child Trafficking Situationer

A. Incidents

In the Philippines, 65% of persons trafficked are female, while 21% are
children out of the 14,209 victims served and assisted under the Recovery and
Reintegration Program for Trafficked Persons (RRPTP) of the DSWD since
2011. These victims were usually identified and rescued through anti-trafficking
operations conducted by Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) all over the Philippines.

However, when we compare the data to the number of victims who pursued
and filed cases to Court, 85% are female, while 33% are children. Out of the 2,570
identified children trafficked, 2,305 (90%) are girls. The increase in percentage
shows that female victims are most likely to file cases against their recruiters or
traffickers than male. Moreover, majority of minor victims identified and rescued filed
complaints.

B. Types of Trafficking

For types of trafficking, 80% of

minor victims are victims of
Prostitution & prostitution or sexual exploitation,
Sexual Exploitation 10% of online sexual exploitation of
OSEC children (OSEC) and pornography,
and 10% of child labor trafficking
Child Labor (including forced labor and use of
children in armed conflict).

As mentioned, only 10% of trafficking in persons (TIP) cases involved

children. However, this type of trafficking received global attention when a global
UNICEF report was released in 2017 saying that Philippines has become a top global
source of child pornography, with around 80% of Filipino kids at risk of online sexual
abuse or bullying. This report was also validated by data from law enforcement
agencies having a significant increase on the number of victims rescued through
several anti-TIP operations where some of the perpetrators or facilitators are parents,
family members, or neighbors of the potential victims.
Child labor trafficking also comprises 10% of child trafficking cases but if we
review the data of number of victims served under the RRPTP 30% victims of forced
labor, involuntary servitude and slavery. Most of the victims, however, are reluctant
or are not willing to file cases because of the long and tedious criminal justice system
and their earnest desire to help their families. Most of these child labor cases are
forced labor or slavery and there are also recorded cases of used of children in armed
conflict in Regions VI and XI but are archived because accused are all at-large.
The vast majority of child trafficking, however, is still for purposes of commercial
or traditional sex trafficking commonly known as “prostitution” or “street sex.” The
usual incident is that victims were promised and lured to work in urban areas to work
as household worker, model, and/or entertainer (dancer/singer) only to be trapped in
a night club or bar to provide sexual services to customers in exchange of money or
fee.

C. Concentration
In a closer review of the child trafficking cases filed before Prosecutor’s Offices
and Regional Trial Court, all Regions in the Philippines have recorded child trafficking
cases which indicates that child trafficking is everywhere in the Philippines. Below
shows the Regions with the highest number of filed child trafficking cases per type of
trafficking:

Type of Trafficking Regions with Highest No. of Cases

Sexual Exploitation and NCR, Regions 7, 3, 2, and 5

Prostitution
Online Sexual NCR, Regions 7, 10, 13, and 3
Exploitation of Children
and Pornography
Child Labor Trafficking NCR, Regions 10, 13, 2, and 5

D. Notable Child Trafficking Cases

 The first cyber-sex trafficking conviction was the story of three (3) minors who
were lured by the accused to her house and inside her bedroom in order to
make them pose naked in front of a web camera way back in May 2006. As
they did not follow what accused told them, accused told her minor daughter to
demonstrate how to remove their clothes. These minors were rescued by
police officers after an information from a concerned citizen. The accused was
convicted of qualified trafficking and sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and
to pay a fine of P3 Million.
 Another case was a result of a successful operation conducted by NBI-
AHTRAD upon receipt of information that the accused is engaged in cybersex
operations and online child exploitation of her own children and her neighbor’s
children. At first, NBI-AHTRAD failed to connect with the accused as she
refused to add the covert yahoo messenger account of the NBI-AHTRAD. As
 such, they sought the assistance of the United States Department of Homeland
Security Investigations-Immigration and Custom Enforcement (USHSI-ICE) to
establish connection with the accused. When they were able to confirm the
online human trafficking activities of the accused, a real time online covert
operation was conducted by having the undercover agent based in the US, act
as online poseur customer. The NBI-AHTRAD, on the other hand, in a parked
vehicle near the house of the accused, monitored the transaction in real
time. Upon turning on the webcam, while preparing for the raid, the NBI
operatives were surprised to see the accused’s daughter, AAA, already
performing a nude show, prompting the NBI operatives to immediately rushed
to the premises of the accused and effect the search and arrest of the accused,
as well as recue of AAA. The accused here was convicted of qualified
trafficking and sentence to suffer life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P2
Million.
 One controversial case was that of Peter Scully, a well-known Australian
pedophile together with his Filipina live-in partner Carme Ann Alvarez. The
investigation into the heinous crimes of Peter Scully was first triggered by a tip
coming from the Dutch police authorities who relayed this information to the
National Bureau of Investigation in 2015. In an unprecedented investigative
casework involving international partners such as the Dutch National Police and
Australian Federal Police, Scully was arrested in 2015 and indicted the year
after. Finally, in June 2018, Scully was convicted of qualified trafficking and was
sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P5 Million. Moreover, Scully
is likewise found guilty of five (5) counts of rape.
 In one case, a minor victim was transported to Laoag City under the pretext of
domestic employment from Calbayog City, Samar, but upon reaching Laoag
was employed to perform as an entertainer to sit with customers and to engage
in prostitution by accused owner and manager of Entertainment Club/Bar.
Since the victim is a minor, accused was convicted of qualified trafficking and
sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P2 Million. This is
actually a common story for traditional/commercial sex trafficking.
 One example of child labor trafficking is when accused in a case harbored and
received 3 minors for the purpose of using them in criminal activities,
specifically, in committing robberies. All 3 minors consistently testified that they
met the accused at the latter's house upon the invitation of Dominic Arambulo,
son of the accused. They likewise testified that they learned that they will be
used in the commission of robberies at the house of the accused and admitted
that they participated in the commission of the crime of robbery. The accused
was also convicted of qualified trafficking and sentenced to suffer 20 – 22 years’
imprisonment and to pay a fine of P2 Million.

E. Relevant Statistics

 As of 2017, more than half of the Philippine Population or 67,000,000

are now online.1

1
https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm
  The Department of Justice Office on Cybercrime (DOJ-OOC) reported
that they received 37,715 cybertips from the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2016 and 45,645 in 20172.
 An average of 3,700 reports of online child exploitation per month are
being received by the OOC where either the offended party or the
offender is in the Philippines. This is approximately 45,000 cybertips
from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
per year, which is an average of 100 to 200 reports on a daily
basis. These reports are being assessed and evaluated by the OOC
through the IACAT Intelligence Agents detailed therein, based on the
CyberTipline Level provided by the NCMEC.
 The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) reported 70
convictions on cyber-trafficking as of 2019. Below is the summary of
OSEC conviction through the years since the first conviction and how it
increased by 200% in 2018 since 2015.
Year No. of Conviction No. of Persons
Convicted
2009 1 1
2011 1 5
2013 2 5
2014 6 4
2015 10 9
2016 3 4
2017 6 8
2018 30 31
2019 10 10
Total 70 77

We note, however, that this is only in so far as TIP cases are concerned and
does not include those online sexual abuse cases filed for other related
offenses (ex. Cybersex under Republic Act No. 10175, child pornography under
Republic Act No. 9775).
 The Department of Social Welfare and Development served a total of 62
victims of child pornography in 2016 and 175 in 2017. While in 2018
DSWD served the highest number of child pornography cases with 230
victims, an increased by 31% compared to the previous year.
 The Philippine National Police – Women and Children Protection Center
(PNP-WCPC) reports that from June 2015 to October 2018, it has
rescued a total of 230 children victims and arrested 104 suspected
perpetrators of OSEC.
 The NBS VAC Survey reveal that one in two (48.5%) children claimed to
have experienced cyber violence and of those who experienced abuse,

2 Cybertips are reports submitted by the public and or United States ISPs and ESPs pertaining to child abuse being committed with the use
of their systems. These reports came from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which requires [US]
ISPs and ESPs to submit reports pertaining to child abuse being committed with the use of their systems.
45.3% were males and 42.2 % were female. NBS VAC Survey also
revealed the following:
 29.8% experienced verbal abuse over internet or cellphone
 Shown sex videos / photos / sexual activities of other people
(15.6%)
 Received sexual messages (24.1%)
 Own nude body or own sexual activities shown on internet or
cellphone (2.5%)