City forms anti-human trafficking and VAW committee

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, August 29 (PIA) -- The city government formally created the Committee on Anti-Trafficking and Anti-Violence Against Women and Children through City Ordinance No. 481 recently signed by City Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn to safeguard the dignity of women and children.

Authored by City Councilor Modesto “Jonjie” Rodriguez, the ordinance is in support of the State’s policy of giving highest priority to the enactment of measures and development of programs that will promote human dignity, protect the people from violence and exploitation, eliminate trafficking in persons, and mitigate pressures for involuntary migration and servitude of persons to ensure their recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration.

The Committee shall be chaired by the City Mayo and the Vice-Chairman is the City Council’s Chairperson of the Committee on Children, Women and Family Relations. Other members include the City Planning and Development Office, City Health Officer, Public Employment Services Officer, City Prosecutor, City Local Government Officer, Chief of Police, three NGO representatives, and the City Social Welfare & Development Officer, whose office shall be the Secretariat of the Committee.

The committee is tasked to institute policies and programs to protect women and children who are victims of trafficking and violence. It shall create and establish systems on surveillance, investigation and rescue to ensure effective and efficient coordination; coordinate with concerned government, NGOs, people’s organizations in instituting programs on trafficking in persons and violence against women and their children.

The city government is appropriating the amount of One Million Pesos starting next year for the establishment of the committee and the projects and activities it will initially undertake. The amount is subject to an increase of twenty percent (20%) every year.

(vsm/pia-palawan)