Alarmed by the unabated trafficking of minors from Negros Oriental by criminal syndicates, the Provincial Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (PIACAT) of Negros Oriental moved to pass a resolution requiring minors travelling with or without an adult within the country to secure a clearance from the barangay and local social welfare officer.
PIACAT Visayas believes that in resorting to this move, the problem of illegal recruitment of minors in Negros Oriental will reduce.
As a backgrounder, the Department of Labor & Employment intercepted more than 40 minors last year, among the more than 300 sugar migratory workers who were illegally recruited for Tarlac province.
Indeed, the trafficking of individuals, especially of minors, remains a big problem in Negros Oriental, despite the observation of the United States Embassy that the Philippines had made gains against trafficking.
We agree with the statement of the problem, but we do not agree with the proposed solution.
The proposal to require travel permits for minors who travel even with adult companions restrains persons from fully exercising their right to travel. There is no law curtailing one’s right to travel within the country, except when a court, or possibly a doctor, says so.
While unaccompanied minors are required to present a clearance from the DSWD when traveling abroad, imposing a similar restriction on domestic travel may be stretching the argument too far.
Imposing restrictions on a minor’s right to travel — even within his own country — is not a guarantee that the problem of trafficking will be reduced.
On the other hand, there is a greater possibility that this will, instead, be a source of corruption by barangay officials who may find it lucrative to be in cahoots with the trafficking syndicates.
Remember the Anti-Carnapping (AnCar) clearance one had to obtain before he could drive his vehicle to another island? It was implemented to curtail another kind of trafficking — the trafficking of stolen vehicles. One had to go through the process of getting their engine and chassis serial numbers traced, paying a fee for the piece of paper, and paying a big tip to the typist/clerk. (“I don’t get a salary here; I’m just a volunteer, sir.” Sounds familiar?)
We know, of course, that carnapped vehicles still made their way throughout the archipelago. The AnCar requirement had to be stopped because car owners from the Visayas and Mindanao ended up paying more to drive to other provinces, while those from Luzon could drive their cars without any AnCar restriction across many provinces.
What we really need to stop the trafficking of minors is effective law enforcement. The fact that law enforcers cannot do their jobs well does not give anyone the right to stifle the constitutional rights of others.