SILENT COST OF WAR (Research in Progress 20 March 2012) Albert E. Alejo, SJ

SILENT COST OF WAR (Research in Progress 20 March 2012) Albert E. Alejo, SJ Ateneo de Zamboanga University

After the Albarka and Zamboanga Sibugay skirmishes 2011 Susan Ople, president of the Blas F. Ople (BFO) Policy Center, called for immediate livelihood program for people displaced by armed conflict, ---situation increases the possibility of human trafficking and illegal recruitment. ---Illegal recruiters thrive in conflict areas ---areas directly affected armed conflict in Mindanao have become fertile ground for human trafficking activities.

CAA as sources of recruitment • "Most of the OFWs back from Syria and Jordan who have sought our help come from conflict-ridden areas in Mindanao. They were promised jobs as domestic helpers in Syria or Jordan for US$200 a month and they accepted such offers without knowing where these countries are or what their rights were as migrant workers." • Basilan conflict may worsen human trafficking: NGO. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/10/27/11/basilan-conflict-may-worsen-human-trafficking-ngo .Posted at 10/27/2011 6:49 PM | Updated as of 10/27/2011 6:49 PM.

Visayan Forum annual report Visayan Forum was able to serve “a total of 1,879 for temporary shelter at the halfway houses and safe houses”. It also appeared that the point of origin of the victims are signsthat“an increasing number were coming from Mindanao, either displaced by armed conflict or poverty”(VF Report, 2009-2011).

In what way and to what extent is human trafficking linked with (armed) conflict in Mindanao? Is HT a cost or cause of conflict? What are the issues? What can be done?

USAID 2004: Literature Review and Analysis related to HT in Post-Conflict Situation Conflict period: Human Trafficking is more on recruitment of young males as child soldiers, as well as women to cater to sexual needs of the armed fighters Post-Conflict period: shift to prostitution and slavery Long Term Effect: needs more study

Gozdziak & Bump: RRL on HT (Georgetown Univ 2008) • Reviewed 218 research-based publications: 39 Empirical; 179 Non-empirical (but many are peer reviewed) • Mostly revolve around HT for sex exploitation and only secondarily for labor (neglect of bonded labor, etc) • Very little on the plight of little boys

Daan Everts. HT: Ruthless Trade on Human Misery • HT is moving people against their will • HT can’t happen without violence; criminals use weapons probably illegally acquired; government loses control • HT profits are partly invested in legal economy; criminalization of formal economy, law enforcement, judiciary • Communities live in fear; damaged social cohesion, potential for conflict

IOM: Economics of HT (Wheaton, et al) 2010 • HT violates human freedom of choice and economic gain; impede national and international development • Paper provides economic model of HT • HT is monopolistic competitive industry, traffickers are intermediaries between vulnerable individuals and employers; products are human beings • Make HT less lucrative; not treat victims as criminals; needs awareness and resources

How much money is involved? HT in 2007 has been recounted to be third to drugs and guns in terms of profitability in the market (Chua et al 2007). In less than four years human trafficking is now considered to be the most money-spinning, produces continuous profit and involves less risk than drugs and guns smuggling (Fletcher, 2011).

How much money is involved? Unlike drugs and guns, humans can be re-used, re-packaged and re-assigned to different trafficking sites to work as prostitutes; factory and farm laborers; and as household workers (Pajarito 2011).

Human Trafficking Republic Act No. 9208 • ―”refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim's consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs.”

Elements of Human Trafficking • The Act (What is done): recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons • The Means (How it is done): Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim • The Purpose (Why it is done) : For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.

Data and Visibility • . Oebanda (2007): The victims become visible when they are rescued or when they escape. Before this period, the potential victims are still difficult to classify as victims; poses a problem for litigation of caught recruiters. • If not caught, they “disappear into their various destinations…that are exploitative, hidden and inaccessible” • Common experience among HT researchers (Goździak & Bump 2008:11).

Document analysis and FGD • Rescue records. Records of Department of Justice, Visayan Forum, Department of Social Welfare, and the Philippine National Police, Presidential Commission on Transnational Crime, • Repatriation reports. Inter-Agency Action against Trafficking (IACAT), Department of Foreign Affairs and the interviews of the Department of Justice. • Economics of exploitation. FGD, KII and journalistic accounts.

For Confirmation • Conflict and Recruitment. Aside from rural poverty, illiteracy, and the human fantasy of a greener pasture somewhere, armed conflict, family feuds, and even domestic violence increase people’s vulnerability to HT. • Corruption in Transit. HT here enters into the wide and elaborate network of actors—visible and invisible, formal and informal—in the long relay leading to the exit points and arrival areas. • Cruelty in Exploitation. Linked tounsettled peace disputes, weak social cohesion and breakdown of governance.

Filipino Repatriates from Syria • Recruitment. (IACAT report) out of the 118 repatriates, only 14 were documented workers. And of the irregular workers, 72 or 63% came from various provinces of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). All women, mostly Muslim women. • Transportation. Of the total number of repatriated Filipinos, forty-four (44) passengers’ departure records were not encoded by the immigration officers. Sixteen (16) of the passengers used other people’s passports on assumed identities.

Filipino Repatriates from Syria • Exploitation. Almost all of the repatriates from Syria did not get the promised salaries. From $400 dollars, their actual salaries received ranged from $200 to as low as $125 per month. * worked for a minimum of 18 hours and a maximum of 24 hours a day, were fed only once a day and slept in the sala, kitchen, bodega, on the floors and worse, inside the house cabinet. * Majority complained of being subjected to physical, verbal and sexual abuses from their employers. All 118 were victims of contract substitution.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu: • “Because of the conflict, many residents apply for work abroad only to find out that they have been victimized by illegal recruiters/ traffickers… The conflict in Mindanao is really at the root of the problem. I hope that it will soon be solved,” Mangudadatu said.

Listening to Men and Women of Catabato • Because of poverty, mothers, wives and daughters go abroad against the custom that Muslim families protect their women. • Women do not need technical skills. Placement fees are higher for men and other women who want to work as skilled labor. • But poverty not the only reason; if so, men could leave for abroad. But they have “bad record” of taking up arms and others. Besides, being a Muslim man means you are likely to be interrogated somewhere at the airport. The war has marked them.

Cotabato… Transit. The lack of good governance, proliferation of loose firearms, distance from central government contribute to human trafficking. A municipality in Maguindanao is said to issue birth certificates for late registration even to those not born in the municipality. “Baklas” passports are used by some recruits to go abroad. Exploitation. FGD participants received less than what was promised. They stayed in Manila for a couple of months. Lived in a cramped house, eating once a day and forced to do menial jobs.

Women and Conflict: Trafficking in Persons in Internally Displaced People Camps in Mindanao. 2011. (MMCEAI). • The study noted that in 2008, after violence erupted over the controversial MOA-AD, the exact number of persons displaced in the 2000 war may have already dwindled “but they have not returned to their villages and yet we don’t know where these people went”. Where did they go? • As if in a refrain, men and women said “If you solve the peace talks, then we will have peace, and there will be no trafficking.”

Zamboanga and Tawi-Tawi Corridor

Roles Headhunters. Or ‘canvassers’ or ‘local contacts’ or simply ‘agents’. Very often they are known to the potential recruits. Some are actually relatives of the target recruits. They pre-screen potential recruits, establish personal connections with parents and local leaders and finally bring the recruits to the recruitment agency for initial assessment. For this service, they would earn Php 500-1000 per “ulo” (head). The advent of the new communications technology has also allowed the covert recruitment through texting and social networking.

Facilitators or transporters. They accompany the recruits during the transit, organize their accommodation while on board and give the initial briefing to the recruits on what they can expect upon arrival at their destination. They are the carriers of the bad news with accompanying threats instilling fear and hopelessness.With the use of cellphones, some facilitators may simply text their instructions to the recruits.

Fetchers.drivers or representatives who pick up the recruits from the ports or bus stations and bring them to the agency’s safe house. In Zamboanga and Tawi-Tawi, they may be simple tricycle drivers. Porters. They also earn tips for rendering escort services to women who leave without passports. • Freelancers. They pry on stranded passengers or run-away victims. • Direct employers. They are the employers or owners of brothels and bars employing minors. They usually prefer “door-to-door” arrangements, forcing recruits to work in brothers as they wait for their overseas placement.

Fixers or Document Providers. They produce fraudulent passports and visas, certificates and work qualifications or the recruits. In Cotabato, we passed by a certain community that has been notorious as the central factory of tampered documents and fake or altered or assumed identities.

Ship’s Crewwould gain as much as 30 % of P5, 000.00- P7, 000.00 which they lend to a woman for the purpose of “show money” for the immigration officer to believe that they have enough money for a tourist visit. Travel or recruitment agencies. They are formal agencies, with licenses and permits, but may actually be expired, cancelled or fraudulent.

Recruitment Poverty remains as the main driving force for human trafficking. …also low level of education, lack of job opportunities in the local areas, cultural fantasy of the greener pasture waiting for the adventurous in more developed areas. Natural calamities also exert pressure. In the context of Mindanao, conflict increases the vulnerability of persons and communities to be lured into trafficking. This is manifested by the place of origins of repatriates who come from ARMM and even evacuation camps. Unsettled peace negotiation and unresolved boundary disputes between the Philippines and Malaysia over Sabah is also a source of tension.

Transit. While conflict figures well in the Recruitment state, it is Corruption that facilitates the transit of victims to their port of exit. This is especially true of the Bureau of Immigration. In a way, corruption is another form of violence. The use of technology, including social networking, texting, is becoming an important factor in the covert movement of the traffickers and facilitators. Geopolitics, in the case, for example, of Tawi-Tawi assumes a critical factor. The distance of islands like Taganak from State control of Manila, matches the distance of Labuan in Sabah from the central control of Kuala Lumpur.

The borders, aside from having been a traditional trade routes, lie also at the remotest grip of state formation and governance. Even Visayan Forum has no office or personnel specifically assigned in Bongao. Other social networks also come into play---Free Masonry, Miztah system, ethnic lineage, etc. Traffickers are opening new routes, e.g. Balbac in Palawan; action must match the creativity of the traffickers.

Exploitation. • The economics of exploitation benefits only the financers and facilitators. Human trafficking victims are most exploited; the local players earn from the trade, but the biggest gainers are the financers and foreign agencies. • Here, conflict, corruption slips into cruelty. And it’s the women and children who carry the heaviest burden of the effects of conflict and violence.

Exploitation. Cultural and religious ideals of women staying at home yields to economic exigency of finding security elsewhere. Government means well, but some government officials themselves are negating the official crusade against human trafficking. At the moment, we cannot presume that human trafficking syndicates are protected or directly connected with the high Government officials. Malaysian government has priorities other than solving the cross-border labor and prostitution issues.

Research and action agenda. • Along the way, we discovered that organ trafficking deserves a more serious intervention than this research has conceived it. By definition, organ trafficking is part of human trafficking. This issue is of greater urgency in Caraga area, especially in Surigao. But anecdotal reports are increasing even in Zamboanga del Sur, Cotabato, and even Davao. • Much of the work now touches on rescue and repatriation. Concerted action needs to attend to the two poles that are as yet only slightly touched by present efforts, namely (1) solving the roots of the economic and ideological issues in conflict affected areas; (2)

SOURCES AND CONTACTS • Owner of Aleson Shipping Line plying the Zamboanga-Sabah route. • Atty. Darlene Pajarito. Fiscal. US.Awardee • Visayan Forum National Office. • Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking-Advocacy and Communications Committee (IACAT-ADVOCOM) • Upi Women’s Federation. Out of school youth empowerment project. • Al Qalam Institute (Ateneo de Davao University)

SILENT COST OF WAR (Research in Progress 20 March 2012) Albert E. Alejo, SJ