Cebu to be presented as anti-trafficking model to US Congress

CEBU CITY, Philippines  – The International Justice Mission (IJM) will present Cebu as a model in the anti-human trafficking response to the US Congress.

IJM national director Andrey Sawchenko brought the staff of US Senator Thad Cochran to Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday for a briefing on the programs of the provincial government against human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

Sawchenko cited Cebu’s tipster and witness protection program and its partnership with shipping lines and the tourism industry to combat human trafficking.

“The provincial government has been one of our most important allies in the fight against human trafficking… We feel we want to highlight the role of the governor,” he said.

The IJM aims to protect people from violent forms of injustice by securing the rescue and restoration of victims and the accountability of perpetrators, ensuring that public justice systems work for the poor.

Sawchenko said Cochran’s staff “will tell their colleagues in the US Senate that Cebu is really a model of anti-trafficking response even though we continue to have trafficking problems here in Cebu but we are fighting hard and we are partnering together.”

Cebu authorities have made a series of arrests, and Garcia said these should send a strong signal to those who would even contemplate on abusing children that the provincial government would use all its resources in coordination with law enforcement agencies in protecting women and minors.

Just recently, a 78-year-old Australian national was arrested for allegedly keeping four minors as “sex slaves” in Barangay Inayagan, Naga City.

Asked if the case was alarming, Garcia said, “It is more alarming if he was not caught. If his arrest was not effected, you would never know that this is going on.”

Garcia, meanwhile, dismissed the warning of lawyer Joan Suarez of the Children’s Legal Bureau that Cebu is now the hub of sex tourism.

“I’d like her to come to me and tell (that) to my face. I’d rather reserve my comment until she will talk to me directly,” she said.