2026 Trafficking Report: PH maintains Tier 1 ranking with ban on offshore gaming operations, conviction
By GMA News
Published October 12, 2026 11:50pm Updated October 13, 2026 12:06am
The Philippines retained its Tier 1 ranking in the US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, taking note of the government ban on offshore gaming operations and the conviction of a former mayor in connection with a scam center.
“The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period; therefore, the Philippines remained on Tier 1,” according to the Report.
“These efforts included enacting legislation banning offshore gaming operations and prescribing criminal liability for traffickers who recruit workers for such operations and convicting a former mayor accused of trafficking in connection with a scam center,” it added.
The report also took note of other government efforts including, adopting a nationwide mandatory victim identification system and an enhanced NRM; increased the number of victims assisted; launch of a centralized interagency trafficking database; and expansion of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking’s (IACAT) prosecutorial task forces and prevention budget.
Sexual exploitation tops Philippine trafficking cases
While the rise of technology has worsened the exploitation of children and facilitated labour trafficking through fake job offers, holding online platforms accountable remains a major challenge.
Jane Bautista
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Sex trafficking victims accounted for the majority at 545 (311 women and 167 girls, 46 men and 21 boys), followed by labor trafficking victims at 345 (158 women and 23 girls, 147 men and 17 boys). COMPOSITE PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
July 21, 2025
MANILA – Sexual exploitation remains the most common form of human trafficking in the Philippines, followed by labor trafficking and illegal adoption, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“The most prevalent here in terms of cases and detection is really sex trafficking—especially online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (Osaec),” Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty told the Inquirer in a recent interview.
Based on data from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat), a total of 153 individuals were found guilty and penalized for trafficking-related offenses in 2024.
Of the convictions, 110 were for sex trafficking—including 43 involving Osaec—while 38 others were for labor trafficking and five for illegal adoption.
Damning CHR Report Exposes Torture, Mistreatment, Neglect of Children in Government Facilities
By Rights Report Philippines·April 9, 2026·14 min read·SHARE THIS
A report by the Commission on Human Rights accuses the Philippine government of violating laws meant to protect children. It documents a pattern of abuse against children in conflict with the law that begins at arrest, continues inside government facilities such as Bahay Pag-asa, and is sustained by a justice system too broken and too slow to protect them.
A CHILD in Mindanao was not just arrested. He was abducted, blindfolded, and tortured by police officers. While they worked on him, he told investigators later, he overheard them discussing whether to kill him and bury the body.
In Luzon. a boy recalled the moment a police officer punched him in the stomach during his apprehension. In another facility, children who complained of stomach pain, fever, or toothaches were given no medication. Instead, staff forced them to drink large amounts of water, a practice known inside the center as “water therapy.” When children repeatedly asked for actual medicine, they were told to drink more water.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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