Anti-trafficking office sets up in Tawi-Tawi, says Binay By Michaela P. del Callar 08/15/2011

Anti-trafficking office sets up in Tawi-Tawi, says Binay

By Michaela P. del Callar 08/15/2011

The government is bent on blocking a major transit point for Filipino trafficking victims, setting up an anti-trafficking office in Tawi-Tawi, Vice President Jejopmar Binay said yesterday.

Binay, concurrent chairman of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), said the presence of an Overseas Passenger Assistance Center (OPAC) in the province would deter traffickers from using Tawi-Tawi as “southern backdoor” exit point for their victims bound for Malaysia.

The center in Tawi-Tawi plans to duplicate the success of the OPAC in Zamboanga which resulted in various rescues and interceptions of human trafficking victims, one of the highest in the Southeast Asian region. The Philippines is currently in the Tier 2 category of the United States government’s global human trafficking watch list.

Binay said the Tawi-Tawi OPAC will assist the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in the processing of exiting passengers in Tawi-Tawi by profiling potential victims of human trafficking. Upon interception, the victims will be properly endorsed to the BI agents who have the authority to off-load the passengers..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110815nat3.html