Sometimes, all it takes is a determined victim and a prosecutor to pin down a human trafficker.

Since the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act was passed in 2003, 12 convictions have been secured so far, the latest of which was the guilty verdict of a Batangas court against two individuals of qualified trafficking.

The court ruling came only 21 months after one of the victims was able to escape the prostitution den and sought help in rescuing the others. Based normal legal proceedings, especially in a Philippine set-up, the filing of the case and the subsequent ruling by the court were speedy by any standard.

But the 12 convictions only represent two percent of the total cases filed before the Department of Justice. From 2003 to 2008, data showed the DOJ received a total number of 573 human trafficking cases.

The 573 cases do not include those which were considered terminated by law enforcement, thus were not forwarded to the DOJ. Cases are considered closed when victims refuse to file a complaint, or have entered into settlements with the respondents.

Visayan Forum president Cecilia Flores-Oebanda says many of the dismissals result to lack of interest or cooperation of the victims, compounded by pressures from the family not to pursue the cases.

But as Newsbreak found out, there are other factors that contribute to the dismissal of cases, from sloppy investigative work, to corrupt law enforcers and prosecutors (see related story: Caught In Traffic).

Oebanda says another factor is the failure of law enforcers, prosecutors and even judges to fully appreciate the dynamics of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. National Bureau of Investigation chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking Division Ferdinand Lavin agrees with this observation, saying there are nuances in a trafficking case that law enforcers are now fully aware of.

For instance, Lavin says many in the law enforcement sector are not trained on the mechanics of the law. “They should be sensitive even on how to handle victims,: Lavin says, referring to the penchant of law enforcers to treat the victims as suspects.

Oebanda says there are prosecutors and judges who do not view human trafficking cases as priority. The low appreciation sometimes leads to the downgrading of cases of illegal recruitment, which is a bailable offense.

But the two most crucial factors necessary to pin traffickers is a victim determined to pursue a case and a determined prosecutor to win it.

Prosecutor Darlene Fajarito who secured the first human trafficking conviction in the country, said she had the victim placed under the Witness Protection Program to protect her from being harassed or intimidated by the perpetrators.

The victim was promised with a job in a restaurant in Kota Kinabalu but ended up in a prostitution den. She was able to contact a relative and sought help with the police.

Determined to put the perpetrators behind bars, she cooperated with the police to set up an entrapment. The recruiter and an accomplice were arrested and tried by Zamboanga Regional Trial Court judge Jesus Carbon.

Fajarito said the victim was resolute in her desire to secure justice and it helped that she was shielded from the influence of the perpetrators. “Safety is important to the victims.”

Aware of the significance of the case, Fajarito said she committed herself to nail the case: scheduling her other cases in the morning and asking the court to set the hearing of the trafficking case in the afternoon. She also asked judge Carbon to hold marathon hearings.

It also helped there was outside pressure for the Philippines to show commitment in combating trafficking.

Assistant State Prosecutor Severino Gana, chief of the DOJ’s anti-trafficking in persons task force, tells Newsbreak that DOJ made representations with the court to facilitate the trial. He said the US embassy official visited his office sometime in 2005 and indicated the US’s dissatisfaction on how the Philippines was addressing the human trafficking problem.  “We had to act fast.”

In five months, the trial was concluded and in December 2005, Carbon handed the guilty verdict. “It was crucial that we finished the trial on schedule. Any more resetting of the hearing would have delayed the resolution for several months.”

For her part, Prosecutor Lilian Alejo, who secured the second conviction on human trafficking only days after the Zamboanga court handed down its ruling, said she personally took a hands-on approach on the trial. “I would personally ask the court for the schedule of the hearings. I made sure I was available for the trial,” she says.

The case, which involved a husband and wife tandem who managed a talent firm as front for prostitution, was filed at the Quezon City Regional Trail court in Nov. 2003.  It is considered the first case of human trafficking filed in court since the law was passed.

Alejo said it took time for Judge Teodoro Bay of the Quezon City Regional to decide due to motions filed by the respondents that delayed the case. She said she “did not object too much (on the respondents’ motions)” to preclude any claim by the parties that they were not accorded due process.

Since she made sure she was on top of the case, Alejo said this allowed her to be a step ahead of the dirty tricks employed by the respondents. One of the female complainants turned hostile witness had accused agents of the National Bureau of Investigation of pressuring her to file a complaint.

Cross-examining the complainant turned hostile witness, Alejo reminded her that during the preliminary investigation at the DOJ, the victim was even asked to sing. “It was to show the court that she was not under pressure at the time she filed the complaint,” Alejo said. She was able to convince the court.

On Dec. 8, 2005, Bay sentenced the couple to life in prison. - with research by Victoria Camille Tulad, Newsbreak researcher

This article was made possible with the generous support of the American people through the United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat trafficking in Persons and The Asia Foundation. The contents are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Department of State of the United States or The Asia Foundation.

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