Del Rosario: Some agencies not helping drive vs trafficking

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario AFP PHOTO

US Ambassador Harry Thomas supposedly gave the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) a list of Philippine government agencies that were not cooperating fully in the fight against human trafficking.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario offered to reveal the agencies in an executive session with senators who had queried him about Thomas’ recent claim that 40 percent of male tourists came to the country for sex.

Del Rosario was in the Senate on Tuesday for a hearing on the DFA’s P10.98-billion budget for 2012.

Instead, he faced a barrage of questions about his department’s efforts at seeking a clarification from Thomas on the 40-percent figure that had caused a furor.

Del Rosario assured the senators the DFA had “made representations” with the US embassy to get a clarificatory statement.

The secretary also recalled his own conversation with Thomas.

“I think that when (Thomas) said this, it was at a legal forum as part of a paper that he was delivering. I have not seen the paper. He was trying to cite an estimate of the magnitude of the problem,” Del Rosario said.

He said that while Thomas had expressed satisfaction with the participation of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and National Bureau of Investigation, “there are certain institutions he named—we could discuss this on executive session basis—that really need to be focused on because they are needed in dealing with this problem.”

Del Rosario said Thomas referred specifically to white male tourists.

“I think he was referring to whole male tourism, he explained that to me. He says there are many coming from the US, from Europe, predominantly white males,” the secretary said.

“He also indicated that there are groups of people that are into cyber sex—promoting, developing cyber sex in the Philippines. These are the people that should be focused on because these are people that prey on minors,” he said.