Profiles of victims and survivorsMajority are aged 17. The oldest is 32 and the youngest 14. All are female, saveone. Most come from conflict areas or host communities (areas which hostinternally displaced persons). Most have reached elementary school level, afew are unschooled. Most parents are farmers with low level of schooling, ornone <strong>at</strong> all. Some recruiters are victims’ rel<strong>at</strong>ives. Birth certific<strong>at</strong>es are fakedor simul<strong>at</strong>ed. Through the “baklas” system (Pilipino for “pull out”), underagegirls assume the papers and identities of other older women. Interceptedvictims often do not, given their true family backgrounds. [From MaguindanaoProvince NAP 2013-2016]Social welfare officer Barbara T. Guialel recounts th<strong>at</strong> prolonged armedconflict and the inadequacy of government and humanitarian aid to addressbasic needs of the poor push young girls to overseas work, with an offer theycan hardly refuse: cash for the family, free travel and accommod<strong>at</strong>ions whileprocessing papers, and free processing. With no gainful work or meaningfulactivity, they are an easy prey to recruiters, often their own kin who reportedlyget P5,000 per recruit.When processing of papers grew more stringent in Maguindanao withincreased anti-trafficking advocacy, processing shifted to the cities of GeneralSantos, Cotab<strong>at</strong>o, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao where unscrupulousrecruiters and agents still had some leeway. In 2013, 54 women and childrenwere intercepted in Marbel, South Cotab<strong>at</strong>o – three cases of illegally traffickedMaguindanao women and children have been filed in Butuan City, and twob<strong>at</strong>ches have returned.They may be the lucky ones. Guialel cites one Teduray tribe member fromNorth Upi who has filed a case with the regional trial court. Under an assumedidentity, she worked in Syria for seven years starting <strong>at</strong> age 11 without pay,the employer had her jailed when she fought back, she lost her wits, andwas rep<strong>at</strong>ri<strong>at</strong>ed in 2011. Another OFW experienced rape, brutality and foodstarv<strong>at</strong>ion. Yet another died soon after her return home <strong>at</strong> age 22, apparentlyfrom poison injected by her employer as punishment for a head woundsustained by a toddler under her care after a fall.Provincial administr<strong>at</strong>or Tunga speaks of a C<strong>at</strong>ch-22 situ<strong>at</strong>ion for manyvictims. His own cousin sold all her properties to work abroad, sending homeher savings in the course of 20, maybe 30, years. She returned home to nothing,her kin had spent all her earnings. Others take a loan of P20,000 from therecruitment agency for papers processing, paid for with their first few months’salary. But there are other debts to pay, e.g. airfare. After paying off debts whenvisiting home, she must return abroad to continue sending money home. Onand on the cycle goes, she lives out her days as a domestic in a foreign land.The provincial government’s response to the trafficking problem is threefold:prevention and awareness raising through educ<strong>at</strong>ion campaigns andworkshops on anti-trafficking legisl<strong>at</strong>ion; protection, recovery, rehabilit<strong>at</strong>ionand reintegr<strong>at</strong>ion through coordin<strong>at</strong>ed action across LGUs and livelihood skillstraining; and prosecution and law enforcement (illegal recruiters have beenprosecuted and jailed).Saudi Arabia) notwithstanding thestories of abuse and poor workingconditions. Underage recruits manageto qualify through various means:the wonders of hijab (head covering)and make-up, parents’ false witnesson their daughter’s age, and spuriousbirth certific<strong>at</strong>es for a fee (seeSidebar).Four targets of Maguindanao NAPMaguindanao’s provincial NAP planhas four targets, highlighted in thebooklet Province-N<strong>at</strong>ional Action Planon Women, Peace and Security 2013-16,namely: institutional development--including GAD focal point system andlocal committees on anti-trafficking(LACAT); prevention and advocacy--capability building and intensifiedinform<strong>at</strong>ion campaigns; prosecutionand law enforcement; andre-integr<strong>at</strong>ion, recovery andprosecution.The years 2013-14 were activity-filledperiods th<strong>at</strong> included meetings ofanti-trafficking bodies and str<strong>at</strong>egicplanning, capacity building for policeand boosting the gender focal pointsystem, women’s livelihood skillstraining, orient<strong>at</strong>ion on domesticviolence, and focus on children’s rightsthrough film showing, photo exhibitsand poster making. Communitysessions on children’s rights andchild protection have been held in52 barangays. A total of 135 out-ofschoolyouth have undergone life skillstraining sessions.In mid-2014, public hearings on aproposed GAD Code were capped by itsapproval by the provincial board. Thiswas followed by a gender sensitivitytraining workshop, orient<strong>at</strong>ionworkshopon GAD planning andbudgeting, and adoption of localordinances on mand<strong>at</strong>ory registr<strong>at</strong>ionof births, de<strong>at</strong>hs and marriages.22 KABABAIHAN<strong>at</strong>KAPAYAPAAN March 2015
Genuine birth certific<strong>at</strong>es are asafeguard against spurious traveldocuments th<strong>at</strong> aid and abettrafficking. There is also need fora comprehensive d<strong>at</strong>a base systemsince the Inter-Agency Council onAnti-Trafficking n<strong>at</strong>ional traffickingd<strong>at</strong>abase does not transl<strong>at</strong>e intoprovincial-level st<strong>at</strong>istics. PolAmp<strong>at</strong>uan says the Child ProtectionWorking Group, a network of civilsociety organiz<strong>at</strong>ions (CSOs), can helpwith this. A complete registr<strong>at</strong>ion ofwomen’s groups is being undertakenwith the Department of Interior andLocal Government so they can betargeted for livelihood projects.Role of women and organizedwomen’s groupsThe New Maguindanao Women’sOrganiz<strong>at</strong>ion (NMWO) is a provincialorganiz<strong>at</strong>ion whose membership ofover a thousand is drawn from womenmayors and barangay captains, thewives or “First Ladies” of mayors, andother female LGU officials. NMWOis led by Bai Jennah M. Lumawan,also president of the Associ<strong>at</strong>ionof Barangay Captains (ABC) inBuluan municipality and sister ofthe governor. The GAD Fund hasnow veered away from “prioritizingmen’s concerns” and offers womenlivelihood skills training.Bainot Kalanganan, organizer, Anak Kawagib (left) and Lubaida L. Manson,President, Pagl<strong>at</strong> Moro Women’s Lead Organiz<strong>at</strong>ion (PMWLO) (right)Lumawan also notes th<strong>at</strong> wheremen ruled the roost as local chiefexecutives in the past, since 2011-12, women have emerged as mayorsand local legisl<strong>at</strong>ors: one out of fourmunicipal mayors is female. In thepast it was zero. The mayor of Pagl<strong>at</strong>municipality and the Associ<strong>at</strong>ion ofBarangay Captains president are bothwomen: Zulaika P. Langkuno andFaijiah Mangelen, respectively.The GAD Fund works only with abibingka (rice cakes) str<strong>at</strong>egy: he<strong>at</strong>above and fire below. Maguindanaowomen in government are followingthe above-mentioned kinship-basedorganizing str<strong>at</strong>egy th<strong>at</strong> is probablynot unique to Maguindanao. But otherwomen in government are takingthe route of <strong>issue</strong>-based organizingas in upland Upi municipality,straddling the GO-NGO nexus withan initial membership of 3,000 nownearly double, coupling gender withgovernance to amazing results (seeSidebar on page 26).The Pagl<strong>at</strong> Moro Women’s LeadOrganiz<strong>at</strong>ion (PMWLO) in Pagl<strong>at</strong>municipality with a membership of240 Bangsamoro women is led byLubaida Litigan Manson with herhumor-filled accounts of members’erstwhile abject poverty (see Sidebaron page 22).While the NAP cum GAD Fund seeksto secure lives one girl child, onewoman, one family <strong>at</strong> a time, its litmustest lies in scope and scale: women’sorganizing and empowerment incommunities. Maguindanao womenare rising to this challenge.Role of NGOs and CSOsPagl<strong>at</strong> municipality, with eightbarangays and a total popul<strong>at</strong>ion ofover 11,200 (2010 NSCB st<strong>at</strong>istics)may be among the province’s smallermunisipyos but it leads in the GO-NGO/CSO partnership th<strong>at</strong> is essential forNAP-cum-GAD to succeed.Bai Jennah M. Lumawan, ABC President, Buluan (left) and Barbara T.Guialel, SWO 2, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (right)Anak Kawagib (AK) is a feder<strong>at</strong>ion ofsix youth organiz<strong>at</strong>ions organizedMarch 2015KABABAIHAN<strong>at</strong>KAPAYAPAAN23
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