VZCZCXRO2318
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHML #3574/01 2400530
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 280530Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2661
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MANILA 003574 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP, G/TIP, INL, DRL 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KCRM PGOV KCOR RP
SUBJECT: TIP UPDATE: CORRUPTION IMPEDES ANTI-TIP EFFORTS 
 
REF: A. MANILA 2672 
     ¶B. MANILA 944 
     ¶C. 05 MANILA 6039 
     ¶D. 05 MANILA 5710 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Government of the Republic of the 
Philippines (GRP) has made some progress in combating 
trafficking in persons (TIP) in 2006.  However, there have 
been no additional convictions under the 2003 Anti-TIP Law 
since December 2005 (refs C and D), despite dozens of human 
trafficking cases pending or already on trial and about 80 
other ongoing investigations.  Slow processing times in the 
courts, often three to four years, is one reason, but 
corruption within GRP law enforcement agencies appears to be 
another key obstacle.  Local non-governmental organizations 
(NGOs) continue to provide assistance to victims and place 
pressure on GRP officials to bolster anti-TIP activities. 
Some new USG programs should help to attack corruption in 
major institutions.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
New cases, but awaiting more convictions 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Emboffs at all levels continue to encourage further 
progress against trafficking in persons in discussions with 
GRP officials and members of civil society.  We have 
underscored that, although the USG removed the Philippines 
from the Tier 2 Watch List in 2005, the Philippines might 
find itself back on the Watch List unless there are 
discernible increases in prosecutions and convictions of 
traffickers in 2006.  According to Philippine Department of 
Justice (PDOJ) estimates, 68 cases are currently pending or 
already on trial, up from 58 in 2005, with PDOJ also 
considering filing charges in approximately another 80 cases, 
based on the preliminary investigations.  (PDOJ is currently 
working to update these estimates, which PDOJ oficials 
believe to be incomplete.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) PDOJ officials confirmed to poloff that there have 
been no new convictions under the 2003 Anti-TIP Law (R.A. 
9208) since December 2005, when four traffickers received 
life sentences and two individuals pled guilty to lesser 
charges in separate cases (refs C and D).  According to PDOJ 
contacts, the December 2005 trials came to a speedy 
resolution largely because of continuous pressure from 
President Arroyo and her staff on PDOJ prosecutors, with the 
specific goal of removing GRP from the G/TIP Watch List. 
President Arroyo plans to address a major TIP conference in 
Manila on September 20, and will likely make further strong 
exhortations for rapid progress in bringing traffickers to 
justice. 
 
¶4.  (U)  One important case, People vs Dennis Reci, involving 
a Manila-based police officer on charges of child sexual 
exploitation under the 2003 law, continues to move forward. 
Reci owned a brothel at which allegedly trafficked minors 
performed sexual acts for paying customers.  The key witness, 
one of the underage victims, testified in January and was 
reunited with her extended family in metro-Manila. 
 
-------------------------- 
Corruption a major problem 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to multiple NGO sources, corruption at 
both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National 
Bureau of Investigation (NBI) remains a major problem in 
obtaining more prosecutions and convictions under the 2003 
law.  There are allegations of investigators receiving bribes 
from suspects to stop the arrest of a suspect or to prevent 
the proper collection of evidence at the scene.  One NGO 
representative cited the case of a co-owner of a brothel, 
whom police released from custody after he bribed the police 
officer-in-charge -- in plain sight of NGO workers.  There 
are reports of police refusal to include key portions of 
testimony from victims or witnesses in affidavits after the 
suspect bribed the police officers conducting the interviews. 
 NGO officials have also asserted that police regularly 
refuse to include important evidence in the investigative 
reports for the prosecution, such as the use of marked money 
to tie a specific person to the crime. 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to one local NGO official, NGOs have to be 
a &constant presence8 throughout the investigation process 
in order to stave off attempts at bribery.  In some 
instances, NGO efforts have led to threats and intimidation 
tactics, apparently from PNP and NBI officials, including 
 
MANILA 00003574  002 OF 003 
 
 
hate mail, visible tailing of NGO vehicles, and verbal 
threats. 
 
¶7. (U) PDOJ recently launched an investigation into an 
alleged extortion racket among immigration officials in Cebu 
in the Central Visayas.  Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez 
claimed publicly that immigration officers at the Cebu 
International Airport have accepted payments ranging from 
P200,000 (USD $4,000) to P600,000 (USD $12,000) in exchange 
for the entry of undocumented aliens from India, Pakistan, 
China, and Korea.  Gonzalez admitted that human 
smuggling/trafficking is "our number 1 problem... not only in 
Central Visayas, this is everywhere." 
 
---------------------- 
Important role of NGOs 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) NGOs, notaly the Visayan Forum Foundation (VFF) and 
the Inernational Justice Mission (IJM), continue to advace 
the anti-TIP agenda.  VFF, which the State Deartment's 
Trafficking in Persons Report highlighted in 2004 for its 
best practices, recently renewd a five-year partnership 
agreement with the Phiippine Ports Authority to continue to 
operate hafway houses for victims and potential victims ofTIP, currently in Manila, Batangas, Sorsogon, and Davao.  It 
plans to open additional halfway housesand safe houses for 
TIP victims in other regions  VFF estimates that it has 
assisted more than 1,000 victims since 2001, and has filed 
13 separae cases on behalf of 51 victims under the 2003 law. 
 In July 2006, VFF signed a 10-year agreement wih the Manila 
International Airport Authority to stablish an airport 
halfway house for TIP victim.  Under this partnership, VFF 
will also train arport immigration and customsofficials on 
how to dentify potential victims of human trafficking. 
ol/C was one of the featured speakers at the signig 
ceremony. 
 
¶9.  (U) IJM focuses on trfficked children and sexually 
exploited children.  Since January, IJM's legal advocacy 
program has initiated nine new cases with the PDOJ.  Its 
intelligence and investigation reports have led to the arrest 
of 11 suspects, six of whom are currently in detention 
without bail.  IJM investigations have not yet led to any 
convictions, but IJM's private prosecutors are currently 
handling 21 separate court cases in conjunction with PDOJ 
counterparts.  They have noted, however, that ten of those 
cases are experiencing "significant delays" in the courts. 
Since IJM started operations in the Philippines in 2001, IJM 
has successfully rescued 70 children who were victims of 
sexual exploitation, including alleged TIP victims.  It has 
also provided information to police leading to closure of 
twelve bars that were employing and sexually exploiting 
children and victims of trafficking. 
 
¶10. (U) NGOs have further identified nine specific "hot spot" 
regions where trafficking appears most serious, and have 
called on the GRP to focus its efforts in the following 
additional areas: 
- Caraga 
- Cotabato 
- Zamboanga 
- Davao 
- Samar 
- Leyte 
- Cebu 
- Negros Oriental 
- Negros Occidental 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) While corruption within law enforcement ranks has 
impeded GRP progress on its anti-TIP efforts, new USG 
programs -- including the Millennium Challenge Corporation's 
Threshold Country program for the Philippines and the 
assignment of an INL-funded Senior Law Enforcement Advisor to 
assist with the PNP's Integrated Transformation Program -- 
should make a positive difference.  Cooperation between the 
NGO community and GRP officials has been key to Philippine 
anti-TIP successes thus far, a reflection of the Philippines' 
vibrant civil society.  Major NGOs nonetheless share the 
USG's disappointment that cases take so long and that 
corruption has tainted or damaged legal proceedings.  Local 
as well as international attention to the problem will remain 
essential in ensuring further progress against TIP. 
Visit Embassy Manila's Classified SIPRNET website: 
 
MANILA 00003574  003 OF 003 
 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/manila/index. cfm 
 
You can also access this site through the State Department's 
Classified SIPRNET website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/ 
Jones