FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUSLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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-g 
.i'ii. 24 
First Regular Session 
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Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Constitution, Article XII, Section 14, provides: 
The State recognizes the role of women in nation-building and shall 
ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men. 
The fastest growing international trafficking business is the trade in women, where 
women and girls seeking a better life, a good marriage, or a lucrative job abroad, unexpectedly 
find themselves in situations of forced prostitution, sweatshop labor, exploitative domestic 
servitude, or battering and extreme cruelty. 
The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing called on all governments to take 
measures, including legislative measures, to provide better protection of the rights of women and 
girls in trafficking, to address the root factors that place women and girls at risk to traffickers, 
and to take measures to dismantle the national, regional and international networks on 
trafficking. 
Hence, this bill seeks to combat the crime of international trafficking and to protect the 
rights of victinis by providing them humanitarian and legal assistance.* 
MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO 
+% 
* This bill was originally filed during the Thirteenth Congress, First Regular Session 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
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~ 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
TO COMBAT THE CRIME OF INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING AND TO 
PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assem bled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as “International Trafficking of 
Women and Children Victim Protection Act.” 
SECTION 2. Purposes. - The purposes of this Act are to condemn and to combat the 
international crime of trafficking in women and children and to assist the victims of this crime 
by- 
(A) Authorizing and funding an interagency task force to carry out such evaluations and 
to issue an annual report of its findings to include the identification of foreign governments that 
tolerate or participate in trafficking and fail to cooperate with international efforts to prosecute 
perpetrators; 
(B) Assisting trafficking victims in the Philippines and those Filipinos victimized abroad 
by providing humanitarian and legal assistance; 
SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. -For the purpose of this Act, the term: 
(A) “Trafficlting” means the use of deception, coercion, debt bondage, the threat of force, 
or the abuse of authority to recruit, transport, transport within or across borders, purchase, sell, 
transfer, receive, or harbor a person for the purpose of placing or holding such person, whether 
€or pay or not, in voluntary servitude, or slavery or slavery-like conditions, or in forced, bonded, 
or coerced labor. 
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(B) “Victim of trafficking” means any person subjected to the treatment described in 
paragraph (A). 
SECTION 4. Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Traf$cking. - 
(A) Establishment. - 
(1) In General. - There is established an Interagency Task Force to Monitor and 
Combat Trafficking (referred to as the “Task Force” in this section). The Task Force 
shall be co-chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and 
Development and the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights. 
(2) Appointment of Members. - The members of the Task Force shall be 
appointed by the President. The Task Force shall consist of no more than twelve 
members. 
The Task Force shall include representatives from agencies and non- 
governmental organizations working for the protection of women and children. 
(3) StafJ: - The Task Force shall be authorized to hire up to five staff members to 
prepare the annual report described in paragraph (B) and to carry out additional tasks 
which the Task Force may require. The Task Force shall regularly hold meetings on its 
activities with nongovernmental organizations. 
(B) Annual Report to Congress. - Not later than March 1 of each year after the 
enactment of this Act, the Task Force, shall submit a report to Congress describing the status of 
international trafficking, including- 
(1) An assessment of the efforts by the government to combat trafficking. Such 
an assessment shall address-- 
(a) Which governmental authorities are involved in anti-trafficking 
activities; 
(b) What steps the government has taken towards ending the participation 
of its officials in trafficking; 
(c) What steps the government has taken to prosecute and investigate 
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those officials fonnd to be involved in trafficking; 
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(d) What steps the government has taken to prohibit other individuals 
form participating in trafficking, including the investigation, prosecution and 
conviction of individuals involved in trafficking, the criminal and civil penalties 
of trafficking, and the efficacy of those penalties on reducing or ending 
trafficking; 
(e) what steps the government has taken to assist trafficking victims, 
including efforts to prevent victims from being further victimized by police, 
traffickers, or others, grants of stays of deportation, and provisions of 
humanitarian relief, including provision of mental and physical health care and 
shelter; 
(f) Whether the government is cooperating with governments of other 
countries to extradite traffickers when requested; 
(g) Whether the government is assisting in international investigations of 
transnational trafficking networks; 
(h) Whether the government takes necessary steps to help and assist 
Filipinos who were victims of trafficking in other countries; 
(i) Whether the government refrains €rom prosecuting trafficking victims 
or refrains form other discriminatory treatment towards trafficking victims due to 
such victims having been trafficked, or the nature of their work, or their having 
left the country illegally; and 
(i) Whether the government recognizes the rights of victims and ensures 
their access to justice. 
(2) Contacts with Nongovernmental Organizations. - In compiling data and 
assessing trafficking for the Inter-Agency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking 
Annual Report, the task force shall seek out and maintain contacts with human rights and 
other nongovernmental organizations, including receiving reports and updates from such 
organizations and, when appropriate, investigating such reports. 
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SECTION 5. Traflcking Victim Regulations. - Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Department of Justice shall jointly promulgate regulations of law 
enforcement personnel, immigration officials, and Foreign Service officers requiring that- 
(A) Law enforcement, immigration officials, and Foreign Service offenders shall be 
trained in identifying and responding to trafficking victims; 
(B) Trafficking victims shall not be jailed, fined, or otherwise penalized due to having 
been trafficked, or the nature of their work; 
(C) Trafficking victims shall have access to legal assistance, information about their 
rights, and translation services; 
(D) Trafficking victims shall be provided protection if, after an assessment of security 
risk, it is determined that the trafficking victim is susceptible to further victimization; and 
(E) Prosecutors shall take into consideration the safety and integrity of trafficked persons 
in investigating and prosecuting traffickers. 
SECTION 6. Assistance to Trafficking Victims. - 
(A) The Philippines. - The Secretary of Health is authorized to provide assistance to 
trafficking victims and to their children in the Philippines, including mental and physical health 
services, and shelter. 
(B) In Other Countries. - The President is authorized to provide programs and activities 
to assist Filipino trafficking victims and their children abroad, including provision of mental and 
physical health services, and shelter. Such as should give special priority to programs by 
nongovernmental organizations which provide direct services and resources for trafficking 
victims. 
SECTION 7. Authorization of Appropriation. - There shall be authorized such sum as 
may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. 
SECTION 8 Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof, is held invalid or 
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain 
valid and subsisting. 
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SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive 
order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to, or inconsistent 
with, the provision of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly. 
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SECTION 10. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
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Approved, 
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