The report aims to assess the needs and characteristics of children and women trafficked at the Manila Port with special consideration on the setting up of an appropriate plan of action by the Visayan Forum Foundation (VF) and Philippine Port Authority (PPA) within the next 3 years.
Given the VF’s bias towards personal and direct touch to human problems, most especially children’s concerns, the research puts primacy on the human dimension in tackling the issue of trafficking. While it recognizes the absence of reliable quantitative data on trafficking, the VF is able to depict the human subject it tries to capture as a mobile, transitory, dispersed and covert population.
Testimonies elicited during focus group discussions reveal that children themselves are aware of their deplorable working condition which is characterized by physical, verbal and sexual abuse; long working hours; non-payment of wages; no days off and other hazards. These abuses are claimed to be manifest immediately after hiring.
Perception and motivations of other actors: Themes from key informant interviews and validation workshop
a. The port community is a complex, living organism constantly changing. Any intervention envisioned to be part of this community must also learn to adapt to this vibrancy.
b. Port personnel have limited powers and facilities to assist passengers at risk during transit. Neither is there a clear delineation of the authority to intercept activities of suspected child labour recruiters.
c. There is a lack of consensus about the nature of trafficking, despite its recognized importance in the whole issue of children’s vulnerability.
d. While repatriation remains an important strategy, it may not be only effective way to deal with trafficked children and women.
e. Because trafficking is seen as a cross-cutting issue, there is a felt need to institutionalize the convergence of efforts and resources in existing programs inside and outside the ports.
The study notes that trafficked children are vulnerable to mechanisms inherent in trafficking-- fraud, coercion, deception, misinformation, strandation, harboring and immediate entry to abusive work. Concerned group should approach their interventions in the context of children’s strengths and vulnerabilities and considering the following issues: their need to work, lack of opportunities, their desire to help their families or to run away from abusive families, and the like. It is recognized that once at work, protecting the children becomes more difficult, but their awareness on where to seek assistance in times of crisis can be enhanced.
Recruiters have well entrenched mechanisms and support networks in the communities and even in other transit points such as ports. Another gray area is the abundance of informal and freelance recruiters who are respected in the communities and remain unregulated up to this day.
Finally there is a need to improve methods and approaches to factual data gathering and investigation.
