By REYAN ARINTO TACLOBAN CITY — After super typhoon Yolanda swept away her home in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, 14-year-old Noemi was forced to beg for food. Her family lost everything, and had nowhere to go.
By JOSEPH ARNEL DELIVERIO BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi—They were arrested by authorities for illegally working in Malaysia, and detained for months in cramped cells where they were fed only twice a day. Yet the four Filipino deportees said they would give up everything for a chance to go back, even if it meant going through the whole
By JAKE SORIANO LAWYER Darlene Pajarito had her first brush with human trafficking in 2004 as an assistant prosecutor in Zamboanga City. Since then securing justice for victims of the crime has become almost like a mantra to her.
By FERDINANDH CABRERA and ARTHA KIRA PAREDES COTABATO CITY— All she knew was that she was on her way to Manila to train as a domestic helper abroad.
By YEN BLANCO DELGADO ZAMBOANGA CITY—Human trafficking syndicates are preying on refugees displaced from their communities by the Moro National Liberation Front’s siege on Zamboanga City last September, taking advantage of the poverty and uncertainty that have gripped evacuation centers. Anti-trafficking groups said they have uncovered a prostitution operation within the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports
By JONATHAN DE SANTOS AT least a thousand cyclists marked 115th Philippine Independence Day on Wednesday riding in solidarity with 27 million modern-day slaves. The Freedom Ride, organized by the Dakila collective, was intended to raise awareness of the 1343 Action Hotline, a text and phone hotline for human trafficking cases in the Philippines,
By LALA ORDENES LIKE most Filipinos, Cel loves to sing. When her father died when she was in third year high school, she thought of capitalizing on her beautiful singing voice to help support her family.
BY KITT MOLINA and ALETA SANTOS
Hope for the Youth Foundation and VERA Files
THIS is a true story about a crime that, despite the existence of a law, has gone unpunished. "Nora," 22, is a victim of human trafficking, one of up to 100,000 Filipino women and children who are believed to be victimized every year.
Click on image to view slideshow by Vincent Go.
MANY governments are still in denial about people being trafficked and, worse, neglect to report or prosecute cases of modern slavery, the United Nations on Drugs and Crime said. “Many criminal justice systems belittle the seriousness of this crime,” said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa at the Feb. 12 worldwide launching the Global Report
THE U.S. State Department is urging the Philippine government to improve its record of prosecuting, convicting and punishing human traffickers. The State Department said in its “2008 Trafficking in Persons Report” released last month that while the Philippines demonstrated “exemplary efforts” to prevent cross-border trafficking and protect victims, it “demonstrated weak efforts to prosecute trafficking