QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 10364)
It is known as the “Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012.”
It is the recruitment, obtaining, hiring, providing, offering, transportation, transfer, maintaining, harboring, or receipt of persons—within or across borders—by means of threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power/position, taking advantage of vulnerability, or by giving/receiving payments or benefits to gain consent of a person in control, for the purpose of exploitation (including prostitution/sexual exploitation, forced labor/services, slavery/servitude, or removal/sale of organs).
No. The amended law treats recruitment/transportation/transfer/harboring/adoption/receipt of a child for exploitation (or adoption induced by consideration for exploitative purposes) as trafficking even if no means are involved.
Extraction of work/services from any person by enticement, violence, intimidation, threat, use of force or coercion, including deprivation of freedom, abuse of authority/moral ascendancy, debt-bondage, or deception—including work extracted under menace of penalty.
Examples include: (1) recruiting/obtaining/hiring/providing/offering/transporting/transfer/maintaining/harboring/receiving a person for prostitution/pornography/sexual exploitation; (2) introducing or matching (for consideration) a person for marriage for purposes of prostitution, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude, or debt bondage; (3) offering/contracting real or simulated marriage for such purposes; (4) organizing tours and travel plans to utilize persons for prostitution/pornography/sexual exploitation; (5) maintaining or hiring a person for prostitution or pornography; plus others enumerated in Section 4.
When there are acts to initiate a trafficking offense but the offender failed to execute all the elements of the crime, due to accident or some cause other than voluntary desistance—overt acts qualify as attempt. For child victims, certain additional acts are deemed attempted trafficking even if consummation did not occur.
Whoever knowingly aids, abets, or cooperates in the execution of the trafficking offense through previous or simultaneous acts is punished in accordance with Section 10(c) of the Act.
A person who has knowledge of the crime, did not participate as principal/accomplice, and then participates in accessory manners such as: profiting/assisting the offender to profit; concealing/destroying the body of the crime/effects/instruments; or harboring/concealing/assisting the principal’s escape (with the required condition of abuse of public functions or habitual guilt).
Examples include producing/distributing fake/tampered counseling certificates, registration stickers, overseas employment certificates, and other compliance markers to promote trafficking; tampering with/destroying evidence or influencing witnesses; and destroying/concealing/removing/confiscating travel or identification documents to prevent/restrict the victim’s movement without lawful authority; among others listed.
Violations of Section 4 are qualified when, among others: the offender is a spouse/ascendant/parent/sibling/guardian or person with authority over the trafficked person or a public officer/employee; the offender is a member of the military or law enforcement agencies; the victim dies, becomes insane, suffers mutilation, or is afflicted with HIV/AIDS due to the act; the offender commits one or more violations over 60+ days; or the offender directs/manages the trafficking victim’s exploitative activities.
(a) Section 4: imprisonment of 20 years and fine of not less than P1,000,000 but not more than P2,000,000. (b) Section 4-A: imprisonment of 15 years and fine of not less than P500,000 but not more than P1,000,000. (c) Qualified trafficking: life imprisonment and fine of not less than P2,000,000 but not more than P5,000,000.
During investigation/rescue/prosecution/trial, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, social workers, medical practitioners, and parties must protect the victim’s privacy, including ordering closed-door proceedings when necessary. The name/personal circumstances/identity of the trafficked person and family shall not be disclosed to the public unless the trafficked person, via a written notarized waiver, knowingly and voluntarily waives confidentiality. Media publicity of identity is generally prohibited.
No. Cases involving trafficking should not be dismissed based on an affidavit of desistance executed by the victims or their parents/legal guardians. Prosecutors must oppose and object to motions for dismissal, and even acts done to secure an affidavit of desistance are punishable.
Trafficking cases prescribe in 10 years. It becomes 20 years when committed by a syndicate or in large scale as defined in Section 6, or when the offense is against a child. The period runs from delivery/release from bondage, or for child victims from the day the child reaches age of majority, subject to interruption rules.
Trafficked persons are recognized as victims and are not penalized for unlawful acts that are a direct result of, or incident to, being trafficked, based on the acts enumerated in the law or obedience to traffickers’ orders. Consent is irrelevant: even if the victim consented to intended exploitation, such consent does not negate trafficking.
Past sexual behavior or predisposition and reputation/opinion thereof are inadmissible to prove consent. Also, consent is irrelevant where prohibited means under Section 3(a) were used.
No action/suit may be brought against law enforcement officers, social workers, or persons acting under lawful orders for lawful acts or statements made during authorized rescue/recovery/rehabilitation/intervention or investigation/prosecution, provided done in good faith. Retaliatory suits are held in abeyance pending resolution. The law also prohibits certain urging of complainants to abandon their complaints, and allows injunction and attachment of trafficker/illegal recruiter properties motu proprio by judges.