New People’s Army, the Abu Sayyaf Group, and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, continue to recruit and use children, at times through force, for combat and noncombat roles. Child sex trafficking remains a serious problem, typically aided by taxi drivers who have knowledge of clandestine locations.Very young Filipino children are coerced to perform sex acts for live internet broadcast to paying foreigners; this typically occurs in private residences or internet cafes and is often facilitated by family members. Child sex tourists include persons from Australia, New Zealand, and countries in Northeast Asia, Europe, and North America; Filipino men also purchase commercial sex acts from child trafficking victims. Organized crime syndicates transport sex trafficking victims from China through the Philippines en route to other countries.
Public officials, including those in diplomatic missions abroad, law enforcement agencies, and other government entities, are reported to be complicit in trafficking or allow traffickers to operate with impunity. Reports assert some corrupt officials accept payments or sexual services from establishments notorious for trafficking, accept bribes to facilitate illegal departures for overseas workers, downgrade trafficking charges, or overlook unscrupulous labor recruiters. At times, police conduct indiscriminate or fake raids on commercial sex establishments to extort money from managers, clients, and victims. Some personnel working at Philippine embassies abroad reportedly sexually harass victims of domestic servitude, withhold back wages procured for them, subject them to domestic servitude for a second time, or coerce sexual acts in exchange for government protection services.
The Government of the Philippines does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.The government convicted 54 traffickers and took steps to expedite prosecutions. In an effort to prevent trafficking of migrant workers, authorities conducted training and awareness campaigns for government officials, prospective employees, and the general public. Officials proactively identified victims exploited within the country. However, the government did not make efforts to provide all trafficking victims access to specialized services; protection for male victims remained minimal. Authorities convicted only one labor trafficker. The government did not make significant efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. Pervasive corruption undermined government efforts to combat trafficking, and investigations of potentially complicit officials did not lead to criminal convictions and in some cases even failed to secure administrative punishment against offenders.

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR THE PHILIPPINES:
Increase efforts to hold government officials administratively and criminally accountable for trafficking and trafficking-related offenses through criminal prosecutions, convictions, and stringent sentences; increase the availability of shelter and protection resources that address the specific needs of trafficking victims, with a particular focus on male victims; allow freedom of movement to adult

victims residing in government facilities; continue to increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict both labor and sex traffickers who exploit victims within the country and abroad; widely implement the continuous trial mechanism to increase the speed of trafficking prosecutions; develop and implement programs aimed at reducing the demand for commercial sex acts, including child sex tourism; prevent the government’s armed forces or auxiliary armed groups supported by the government from recruiting or using children, and investigate any such allegations; continue to train front-line officers on appropriate methods to assist children apprehended from armed groups; and continue to strengthen anti-trafficking training for judicial officials, law enforcement, and diplomats.

PROSECUTION
The government demonstrated increased law enforcement efforts. The Philippines prohibits sex and labor trafficking through its 2003 and 2012 anti-trafficking acts, which prescribe penalties of six years’ to life imprisonment plus fines up to five million pesos ($112,000), which are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape.This law also defines purchasing commercial sex from a child as a trafficking offense. During the reporting period, police investigated 282 alleged cases of trafficking, up from 155 the previous year. Of these, 158 cases involved sex trafficking of adults, 110 cases involved forced labor of adults, and 12 involved sex or labor trafficking of children. The government reported the investigation of two attempted trafficking cases; however, the details of these cases remain unknown.The National Bureau of Investigation initiated 107 trafficking investigations.The government prosecuted at least 595 defendants, compared with 663 defendants during the previous year. Authorities convicted 53 sex traffickers, an increase from 31 the previous reporting year, and acquitted three individuals. It obtained one conviction for labor trafficking.The government did not take any law enforcement actions to punish the recruitment and use of child soldiers. Sentences for those convicted ranged from 10 years’ to life imprisonment, with most offenders sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2014, the Supreme Court instituted the continuous trial system pilot project, significantly expediting trafficking prosecutions; seven trafficking cases were completed in less than one year. However, endemic inefficiencies in the judicial system left some cases pending prosecution.
The government made strong efforts to provide anti-trafficking training to authorities, with a particular focus on disaster-stricken regions.The Interagency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and its taskforces conducted and co-organized 99 training sessions and workshops on trafficking, directly aiding over 5,000 prosecutors, law enforcers, and social workers. In addition, police conducted 6,138 community activities to discuss enforcement of the anti- trafficking law. Philippine officials continued to cooperate with foreign governments to pursue international law enforcement action against suspected traffickers; six such trafficking investigations were initiated in 2014. Authorities conducted administrative investigations of public officials for potential complicity in the facilitation of trafficking, although it was unclear how many investigations authorities initiated. No new or ongoing investigations resulted in criminal prosecutions or convictions, and 19 cases were ongoing at the close of the reporting period. A 2013 case of an embassy official in Kuwait who violated the Philippines’ anti- trafficking law remained pending prosecution, with no criminal charges filed in 2014. Administrative investigations of personnel working in Philippine embassies in the Middle East accused of

mistreating and re-victimizing Filipina victims of domestic servitude remained ongoing. Ottawa police charged a Philippine diplomat and her spouse posted in Canada with domestic servitude, but it was unclear what steps the Philippines government took to address this case.