• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The vigilance of Negrenses against human trafficking was urged by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, during the culmination program of the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons which was marked yesterday by the Provincial Committee Against Trafficking, Child Pornography, and Violence Against Women and Children (PCAT-CP-VAWC), at the Provincial Capitol Lagoon and Park in Bacolod City.
Lacson said that the trafficking of individuals is not just a crime, but a form of slavery, and a serious violation of human rights.
Sex trafficking, involuntary servitude, forced labor child soldiers, child trafficking, child labor, and even debt bondage are just among the many forms of abuse that we, as a nation and as a region, must endeavor to eradicate, he added.
Noting that there was a major increase on online sexual abuse cases in the country at the height of pandemic, Lacson said sexual predators have increasingly turned cyberspace to victimize children.
Likewise, he added that economic hardship is compelling many Filipino families to participate in this online sexual trafficking just to survive.
Given the complexity and magnitude of the problem, it is impossible to deny that solving the issue of human trafficking is a difficult endeavor. Lacson pointed out.
While technology, digitalization and the internet have made human life easier and faster they have also opened another venue and manner of abuse particularly for the children, citing reports of the UNICEF, that the Philippines has now become one of the world’s hotspots of livestreamed sexual abuse.
With this grim picture in consideration, Lacson said “I would like to take this opportunity to urge everyone to be more aware and vigilant, for it is only through our united and collective vigilance that we can effectively help eradicate this menace in our midst.”
This kind of exploitation we are trying to address is intricate and manifold, and it is for this reason that we should not waiver, he stressed.*
