• Investigate and prosecute traffickers, including labor traffickers and complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
• Increase efforts to proactively identify and assist labor trafficking victims, including by providing training to law enforcement, social service providers, and labor inspectors on indicators of trafficking.
• Increase efforts to proactively identify and assist trafficking victims exploited within online scam operations; ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked and provide foreign victims with long-term legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they may face retribution or hardship.
• Strengthen the capacity of local government units to provide reintegration services for trafficking survivors, including trauma-informed care, job training, and in-country employment.
• Increase support to government programs that provide specialized care for trafficking victims, including child victims of online sexual exploitation.
• Increase survivor engagement, including by establishing accessible mechanisms for receiving and providing compensation for survivor input when forming policies, programs, and trainings.
• Ensure victims receive court-ordered restitution and compensation ordered through civil judgments.
• Increase resources for anti-trafficking task forces and law enforcement units to conduct timely investigations, coordinated operations, and prosecutions while providing robust victim and witness assistance services.
• Consistently implement the coordinated interagency response to providing services to returning Filipinos exploited in sex and labor trafficking overseas.
• Create a central database for information on illegal recruiters and human trafficking cases to facilitate interagency coordination in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting traffickers.

The government increased law enforcement efforts.

The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of up to 20 years’ imprisonment and fines of 1 million to 2 million pesos ($17,234 to $34,468). These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. During the reporting period, the government enacted a corollary law targeting, in part, human trafficking in online scam operations; the law prescribed penalties of life imprisonment and/or a fine of 1 million to 5 million pesos ($17,234 to $86,170) for prohibited acts committed through human trafficking.

During the reporting period, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippines National Police (PNP) investigated 500 trafficking cases, compared with investigating 417 cases in the previous reporting period. The government prosecuted 446 alleged traffickers (213 for sex trafficking and 233 for labor trafficking), compared with prosecuting 264 alleged traffickers (217 for sex trafficking and 47 for labor trafficking) in the previous reporting period. The government continued 2,848 prosecutions initiated in prior years. Courts convicted 143 traffickers (120 for sex trafficking and 23 for labor trafficking), compared with 80 traffickers (71 for sex trafficking and nine for labor trafficking) in the previous reporting period. Courts sentenced convicted traffickers to penalties ranging from six months of community service, fines ranging from 10,000 to 8 million pesos ($172 to $137,872), and life imprisonment; the majority of convicted traffickers were sentenced to at least one year imprisonment. Courts frequently used plea bargaining in human trafficking cases, particularly those involving the online sexual abuse or exploitation of children (OSAEC), which significantly decreased the time to reach case resolution and further reduced the potential for re-traumatizing child witnesses in trials, many of which involved traffickers who were family members of the victims. Authorities prosecuted 43 alleged traffickers for their role in exploitation in online scam operations conducted under the guise of POGOs; the alleged perpetrators included operators, incorporators, and officers representing the POGOs.

Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action during the year. In one high-profile case, authorities investigated and initiated a prosecution of an exmayor under the anti-trafficking law for alleged complicity in human trafficking within an online scam operation in Bamban, Tarlac. Authorities also initiated an administrative investigation of a mayor, vice mayor, and seven municipal council members for alleged complicity in human trafficking within an online scam operation in Porac, Pampanga. The mayor reportedly received an administrative sanction and the government did not report updates on any of the other cases. None of the officials in these cases faced criminal investigation. The government did not report updates to the investigation of a municipal police chief and 26 other officers dismissed from their positions in relation to allegations of official complicity in an online scam operation in 2023 in Pasay, where traffickers allegedly exploited more than 730 potential labor trafficking victims. The government continued to prosecute two government officials implicated in trafficking crimes, including a police officer allegedly involved in cyber-facilitated sex trafficking and a police officer who allegedly helped a suspected trafficker avoid prosecution. The government arrested and initiated investigations into two public school teachers for alleged production, possession, and distribution of child sexual abuse and exploitation material (CSAEM). The government investigated six immigration personnel and prosecuted four for alleged involvement in trafficking. This compared with investigating 103 immigration personnel in 2023. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) continued implementation of a “one-strike” policy for disciplining immigration officials implicated in corruption or trafficking cases and the rotation of immigration officials in ports of entry and exit. IACAT continued implementation of SOPs on identification and monitoring of trafficking-related corruption cases, which included reporting mechanisms and employee suspension guidelines.

NBI and PNP led the government’s investigative efforts and the Department of Justice (DOJ) led prosecutorial operations through 25 interagency anti-trafficking task forces (five national task forces, six air and seaport task forces, and 14 regional task forces focused on online child sexual exploitation and trafficking). The government added 34 new prosecutors as task force members in 2024, increasing the total number to 581. DOJ continued implementation of a policy directive mandating prosecutors to proactively guide and assist law enforcement agencies in investigating and preparing all capital offense cases, including trafficking and OSAEC cases. The anti-trafficking law, amended in 2022, along with the adoption of an Anti-OSAEC and Anti-CSAEM Act, imposed additional obligations on internet companies to provide information to law enforcement relating to sex trafficking crimes; during the current and prior reporting periods, law enforcement made numerous subpoena and financial transaction requests pursuant to relevant provisions in these laws. The government engaged in anti-trafficking dialogues, cooperated in investigations and prosecutions, and shared information, including intelligence, with foreign governments. As part of the Philippines Internet Crimes Against Children Center, the PNP Women and Children’s Protection Center (WCPC) and the NBI Anti-Human Trafficking Division cooperated with foreign counterparts and an international NGO on trafficking cases, primarily involving OSAEC. PNP operated regional WCPC cyber protection units focused specifically on OSAEC crimes and led the investigation of most OSAEC cases.

The government, in partnership with NGOs and foreign governments, trained front-line officials, prosecutors, judges, and other government personnel on various topics, including investigative techniques and victim identification. Government agencies have reported a need for additional anti-trafficking law enforcement personnel, funding, and logistical support due to significant caseloads. Authorities often lacked necessary tools, resources, personnel, and training to conduct digital forensics and effectively investigate trafficking networks on or using online platforms, including cases involving OSAEC and human trafficking in online scam operations. Slow moving courts, a need for additional training on handling digital evidence in hearings and trials, and too few prosecutors hindered the effective and timely prosecution of trafficking crimes. In prior years, NGOs reported police did not take sufficient steps to investigate and arrest purchasers of commercial sex, including foreign nationals engaging in extraterritorial commercial sexual exploitation and abuse, and often did not question foreign national perpetrators who were present during operations in entertainment establishments. Officials did not effectively detect, investigate, or address labor trafficking cases in the fishing industry.

The government decreased efforts to protect victims.

The government lacked a reliable mechanism to consolidate statistics on the total number of victims identified and assisted; therefore, the government did not report how many victims it identified and provided data may have included victims identified in previous years. However, in 2024, the government reported assisting, and potentially identifying, 816 victims – 450 sex trafficking victims (333 female and 117 male) and 366 labor trafficking victims (239 female and 127 male); this compared with identifying 890 victims in 2023. The government reported assisting 1,377 victims of unspecified forms of exploitation (831 female and 546 male), including illegal recruitment, illegal adoption, and other forms of exploitation that may not have involved trafficking as defined by international law. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) identified and repatriated from abroad 706 potential Filipino trafficking victims, many of whom were exploited in online scam operations in Burma, Cambodia, and Laos, compared with 431 in the previous reporting period. Front-line officials, including law enforcement officers, healthcare workers, and labor inspectors, sometimes did not use trauma-informed practices in victim identification and lacked training on identification SOPs or victim-centered approaches. The government, in partnership with international organizations, continued drafting standardized interagency SOPs for victim identification, including among foreign nationals and asylum seekers.

In 2024, the government assisted 2,193 victims (1,403 female and 790 male) in the Recovery and Reintegration Program for Trafficked Persons (RRPTP), maintained by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD); some of the 2,193 victims may not have been trafficking victims according to the definition under international law. In comparison, the government reported assisting 2,024 victims in the last reporting period. The government allocated 26 million pesos ($448,083) to implement the RRPTP in 2024, compared with 24.9 million pesos ($429,125) in 2023. Authorities referred identified victims to the RRPTP for services, including shelter, provisions of basic needs, medical care, education assistance, counseling, and reintegration assistance. Certain services, such as compensation provided under the Victim Compensation Program, were provided only if victims received formal identification by a prosecutor. DSWD continued to implement the national referral system and referred trafficking survivors to their community’s local social welfare and development office for follow-up services, which observers had noted lacked the requisite personnel and resources to provide individualized case follow-up. Adult shelter residents could leave unchaperoned, provided there were no threats to their personal security or psychological care issues. Specialized assistance services, as well as reintegration follow-up services and job training and placement, were inadequate to address the needs of adult trafficking victims. DSWD could provide foreign national victims the same services provided Filipino trafficking victims, as well as repatriation support; the government reported providing services to 35 foreign national trafficking victims. However, the government did not provide services to the overwhelming majority of foreign national trafficking victims, including those exploited in online scam operations. IACAT operated three specialized and comprehensive shelters for trafficking victims – two in metro Manila and one in an airport. In 2024, the center assisted 180 trafficking victims or potential victims, including 66 children, compared with 332 victims, including 65 children in 2023. The government also operated 24 residential care facilities providing services to victims of crime, including trafficking. Of these facilities, 22 served children, one served women, and one served both women and girls. In 2024, the government established the Love and Care for Our Children program (MAKABATA) to centralize protective services for child victims of various crimes, including OSAEC. The government considered victims’ preferences when determining the appropriate shelter and adult victims could choose not to reside in a shelter.

While authorities reported screening individuals for trafficking indicators in all law enforcement actions against online scam operations, the government did not report identifying any trafficking victims in these operations; this was despite widespread reports indicating the majority of individuals recruited for online scam operations faced conditions indicative of forced labor. Due to insufficient screening for trafficking, especially among individuals exploited in online scam operations, authorities did not take effective measures to prevent the inappropriate penalization of potential victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. This also contributed to the deportation of some unidentified victims to countries where they may have faced retribution or hardship, and in some cases, prosecution in their country of origin solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. Authorities arrested thousands of Filipino and foreign nationals involved in online scam operations under the guise of POGOs. However, unlike in 2023 when, in cooperation with an international organization, it identified 362 foreign trafficking victims exploited in these operations, the government did not report identifying any foreign national trafficking victims from online scam operations during the reporting period. Officials deported the overwhelming majority of foreign nationals it arrested from these operations without identifying them as trafficking victims – totaling at least 3,000 foreign nationals during the reporting period. While authorities in 2023 previously provided some foreign nationals detained during law enforcement actions on POGOs with Allow Departure Orders, waived immigration penalties, or repatriated them as trafficking victims, the government did not report any such actions during the current reporting period. Additionally, observers reported authorities prevented civil society from screening victims during law enforcement actions against online scam operations; authorities initially allowed civil society organizations to screen victims in mid-2023. Authorities detained foreign national potential victims in buildings which previously housed online scam operations as the potential victims awaited deportation.

DFA collaborated with IACAT and its member agencies to provide services for repatriated Filipino trafficking victims. Social workers from DMW were present in Philippine diplomatic missions in Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Korea, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2024, DMW established and implemented an immediate care and financial assistance fund (AKSYON fund), replacing DFA’s Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Fund. The AKSYON fund provided assistance such as airfare, meal allowances, shelter, medical care, and other services for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) facing difficulties abroad, some of whom were trafficking victims. DMW allocated 2.5 billion pesos ($42,413,385) to the AKSYON fund in 2024, compared with DFA allocating 1 billion pesos ($17,233,951) to the ATN Fund in 2023. DMW dispersed 38.9 million pesos ($670,401) from the AKSYON fund in 2024, compared with DFA dispersing 298.3 million pesos ($5,140,888) from the ATN in 2023. In 2024, DMW assisted 535 trafficking victims identified by overseas missions, compared with 431 in 2022. The DMW is responsible for assisting distressed OFWs and their families, and assisted 335 illegal recruitment victims, compared with 163 trafficking or illegal recruitment victims in 2023. Services provided to OFW trafficking victims included coordination with the host government, contract buy-out, shelter, provision of personal necessities, medical aid, financial assistance, payment of legal fees, repatriation, and referral to appropriate agencies. DMW further provided legal assistance to 19,703 OFWs – some of whom were potential trafficking victims – in 2024, including 536 fishers.

Authorities reported 412 trafficking victims – 159 women, 77 men, 149 girls, and 27 boys – participated in investigations or prosecutions against alleged traffickers. Seven regional task forces had victim-witness coordinators who provided trauma-informed support and assistance to victims, including by providing continuous support throughout the criminal justice process; the government did not report how many victims received this assistance, compared with 286 in 2022. In 2024, IACAT initiated plans to create a legal clinic for qualified law students to provide additional legal support to trafficking victims. IACAT operations center personnel could provide transportation and security protections for victims to participate in case conferences and hearings. Fifty-one trafficking victims entered the witness protection program in 2024 (28 in 2023), which included housing, livelihood and travel expenses, medical benefits, education, and vocational placement. Police and prosecutors used recorded interviews with child victims at the inquest stage and in some trials, which reduced the number of times officials interviewed victims and the potential for re-traumatizing children who served as witnesses. The government used financial and digital evidence to prove trafficking and OSAEC crimes in court, reducing the reliance on victim testimony and decreasing potential re-traumatization of child victims. Courts ordered 58 convicted traffickers to financially compensate an unknown number of victims; ordered compensation ranged from 10,000 to 500,000 pesos ($172 to $8,617). NGO observers reported that while judges awarded victims restitution, victims rarely received it in practice and courts lacked effective mechanisms to collect damages from traffickers. Authorities implemented compensation guidelines for victims of OSAEC to facilitate court-ordered restitution. The government maintained a victim compensation fund and supported survivors in making claims.

The government slightly increased efforts to prevent trafficking.

IACAT led the government’s anti-trafficking efforts and met four times. IACAT was composed of 29 member agencies, which included 26 government agencies, three NGOs, and survivor members. In August 2024, the government established the Presidential Office for Child Protection to coordinate interagency efforts to combat child trafficking, OSAEC, and CSAEM; these efforts are in conjunction with IACAT, the National Coordination Center against OSAEC and CSAEM, and other child-centered units in the government. The government allocated 96.3 million pesos ($1,659,629) to the IACAT Secretariat’s budget, compared with 99.3 million pesos ($1,711,331) in 2023. The government continued implementation of its Fourth National Strategic Action Plan Against Trafficking in Persons 2023-2027, which it had developed in consultation with survivors. The government continued drafting an additional multi-year NAP targeting OSAEC. The government, in partnership with civil society, conducted awareness raising activities targeting school-aged children, teachers, airport personnel, local and front-line officials, the broader public, and foreign governments. IACAT conducted research on informal migration patterns, including so-called “backdoor exits,” to inform awareness campaigns and strengthen cooperation with local and foreign stakeholders.

The Department of Labor and Employment’s overseas labor officers reviewed OFWs’ labor contracts and assisted with labor contract violations and allegations of abuse; the DMW investigated and regulated recruitment agencies, including entities involved in illegal recruitment or trafficking. The government investigated and closed 15 establishments or entities and arrested 11 individuals for illegal recruitment. In September 2024, the government enacted a new law outlining protections for domestic and international Filipino seafarers and expanding the regulation of fishing recruitment agencies. The government maintained bilateral labor agreements with various destination countries on the recruitment of migrant workers and protection of their rights. The government maintained the suspension of accreditation for new recruitment agencies and first-time workers who sought employment in Kuwait following the rape, beating, and murder of a Filipina domestic worker in Kuwait in January 2023; the government did not impose a complete ban on sending other workers to Kuwait. The BI Travel Control and Enforcement Unit screened departing passengers and deferred the departure of 29,727 passengers (34,353 in 2022) due to incomplete or suspicious travel documents or misrepresentation. IACAT and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas operated a dedicated trafficking hotline; the government reported calls to the hotline resulted in 52 trafficking cases and 22 identified victims, and referring all cases to law enforcement and all victims to services. The government established an additional hotline specifically for child victims of various crimes, including child trafficking and OSAEC victims. PNP and WCPC also operated hotlines, and the DFA Office of Migrant Workers Affairs maintained a social media page for Filipinos working abroad who were in distress for their families to request assistance.

The government did not prohibit recruitment fees. The lack of a centralized database tracking illegal recruitment and human trafficking hindered the government’s efforts to prevent trafficking and hold traffickers accountable. The government made some efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts, including by initiating the development of a child sex offenders registry and a foreign sex offenders registry. Furthermore, the government screened for and denied entry to 137 registered sex offenders, the majority of whom were from the United States. The government made efforts to prevent trafficking in its supply chains.

Trafficking affects all communities. This section summarizes government and civil society reporting on the nature and scope of trafficking over the past five years. Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in the Philippines, and traffickers exploit victims from the Philippines abroad. Traffickers exploit women and children from rural communities, conflict- and disaster-affected areas, and impoverished urban centers in sex trafficking, forced domestic work, forced begging, and other forms of forced labor in tourist destinations and urban areas around the country. Traffickers also exploit men in forced labor in the agricultural, construction, fishing, and maritime industries, sometimes through debt-based coercion. Family members sell children to employers for domestic labor or sexual exploitation, and hundreds of thousands of children involved in selling and begging on the streets are vulnerable to trafficking. The government reported 1.48 million Filipino children ages five to 17 years old worked in 2022, with 732,600 working in the services sector, almost 640,000 in agriculture, more than 100,000 in the industrial sector. One study found approximately 50,000 Filipino children are employed as domestic workers in the Philippines, including nearly 5,000 who are younger than the age of 15 years. A significant percentage of working children face hazardous working conditions, including in mines, factories, and farms, where they are vulnerable to experiencing indicators of forced labor. Indigenous persons and many of the approximately 340,000 IDPs reported in 2022 in Mindanao are at risk of trafficking, including through fraudulent promises of employment. Traffickers increasingly transport victims domestically and internationally along “backdoor” routes between Zamboanga City to Jolo, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, or to neighboring countries. Individuals who frequently experience discrimination on the basis of a disability or their sexual orientation are vulnerable to trafficking. Natural disaster-induced displacement significantly increases Filipinos’ vulnerability to trafficking due to a loss of livelihood, shelter, or family stability. NGO reports indicate the government did not adequately support all affected communities in post-disaster responses, which heightened trafficking vulnerabilities among certain groups. Non-state armed groups operating in the Philippines, including the Communist Party of the Philippines’ New People’s Army, the Maute Group, the Abu Sayyaf Group, and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, unlawfully recruit and use child soldiers – at times through force – for combat and support roles. Auxiliary and, in previous years, regular units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines allegedly unlawfully recruited and used child soldiers in support roles. Non-state armed groups affiliated of ISIS have exploited women and girls in sexual slavery in the Philippines. Orphans and unaccompanied children are vulnerable to recruitment by armed forces and non-state armed groups.

Each year, the government processes approximately 2.3 million employment contracts for Filipinos to work overseas in nearly 170 countries. Traffickers exploit a significant number of Filipino foreign workers in sex or labor trafficking in numerous industries, including IUU or industrial fishing, shipping, construction, manufacturing, education, home health care, and agriculture, as well as in domestic work, janitorial service, and other hospitality-related jobs globally, but particularly in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. Saudi and Omani diplomats have exploited Filipino workers in domestic servitude in Europe and the United States, and there are reports of perpetrators physically abusing or murdering Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait. Traffickers, typically in partnership with local networks and facilitators and increasingly through the use of social networking sites and other digital platforms, fraudulently recruit Filipinos through illegal recruitment practices such as the use of deception and hidden fees, and the production of fraudulent passports, overseas employment certificates, and contracts to exploit foreign workers in sex and labor trafficking. Traffickers fraudulently recruit dozens of Filipino domestic workers to work in the UAE but instead have transported them to Damascus, Syria for forced domestic work. Traffickers lure and exploit some children from remote areas of Mindanao and other regions using tourist visas available in Middle East countries where many Filipinos work in household service jobs; traffickers “sell” these children to employment sponsors after arrival. To evade detection, some traffickers use student and intern exchange programs and fake childcare positions, as well as porous maritime borders, to circumvent the Philippine government and destination countries’ regulatory frameworks for foreign workers. Observers report traffickers are increasingly using “intra-company transferee” and “short-term visitor” visas – both legitimate and fraudulent – to facilitate the travel of Filipino engineers and undergraduate students to Japan, where traffickers subsequently exploit them in forced labor in factories.

Sex trafficking frequently occurs in tourist destinations, such as Boracay, Angeles City, Olongapo, Puerto Galera, and Surigao, where there is a high demand for commercial sex acts. Child sex trafficking remains a pervasive problem, often abetted by taxi drivers who have knowledge of clandestine locations. Many perpetrators engaging in extraterritorial commercial child sexual exploitation and abuse in the Philippines are convicted or charged sex offenders in their home countries and are most commonly citizens of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with an increasing number of reports from Canada, Morocco, Iraq, and Denmark. Filipino men also exploit child trafficking victims in domestic commercial child sexual exploitation and abuse. Law enforcement information indicates the Philippines is one of the largest known sources of OSAEC, in which traffickers sexually exploit children, individually and in groups, in live internet broadcasts in exchange for compensation wired through a money transfer agency by individuals most often in another country, including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and the United States. The traffickers are often parents or close relatives who operate in private residences or small cyber cafes, and many child victims, girls and boys, are younger than 12 years old. Identified hotspots for this form of sex trafficking in Luzon and Visayas include Iligan, Lapu-Lapu, Pampanga, Quezon City, Malabon, Pasig, Taguig, and Caloocan. Reports cited a nearly 265 percent increase in unconfirmed instances of online child sexual abuse during the pandemic. One study found two out of 10 Filipino internet-using children ages 12 to 17 years (approximately two million) were subjected to OSAEC. Foreign and Filipino traffickers increasingly use social media, messaging, and video-chat applications to recruit and exploit Filipino children in tech-facilitated trafficking for OSAEC, including through “sextortion” schemes. Traffickers exploit Chinese nationals and other foreign national women in commercial sex in locations near POGOs that cater to Chinese nationals.

Traffickers exploit Filipino nationals in forced labor in online scam operations located primarily in Burma, Cambodia, and Laos; traffickers often fraudulently recruit Filipino victims for jobs in Thailand before forcibly transferring them to scam centers in neighboring countries. Traffickers also exploit thousands of Filipinos and victims from Southeast Asia in forced labor in online scam operations in the Philippines, previously under the guise of legal POGOs. Chinese nationals employed in the Philippines at worksites affiliated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative are vulnerable to forced labor.

Some officials in law enforcement, immigration agencies, and other government entities are allegedly complicit in trafficking or allow traffickers to operate with impunity. Some officials allegedly accept bribes to facilitate migration outside of regular channels for overseas workers, operate sex trafficking establishments, facilitate production of fraudulent identity documents, or overlook illegally operating labor recruiters. Immigration officials, especially at lower levels, accepted bribes to facilitate or ignore trafficking crimes, including tampering with or producing fraudulent travel documents. Reports in previous years asserted police conducted indiscriminate or fake law enforcement actions on commercial sex establishments to extort money from managers, clients, and victims. Anecdotal reports indicate police and local government units exploit in labor trafficking individuals who voluntarily surrender to officials running the government’s anti-drug campaign.