Press Release
June 21, 2019

Dispatch from Crame No. 541:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on Nanay Fedelina's plight and the continued fight against human trafficking

6/21/19

I have read ABS-CBN's reports about the plight of 82-year-old Nanay Fedelina who was a victim of modern day slavery for 65 years. At the very young age of 16, she was already isolated from her family and served her "owner's" family across four generations.

Bukod sa kanyang amo, pinagsilbihan din niya ang nanay, anak, at mga apo nito. Apat na henerasyon ng pagiging alila at ng pangungulila sa kanyang pamilya at mahal sa buhay; mahigit anim na dekada ng matinding pagdurusa.

Lubos tayong nagagalak na sa wakas, malaya na si Nanay Fedelina mula sa di-makatarungang pagtrato at pag-abuso sa kanyang karapatang pantao. Nagpapasalamat tayo sa lahat ng nagmalasakit at kumalinga sa kanya, kabilang na ang Pilipino Workers Center, Konsulado ng Pilipinas at mga awtoridad ng Estados Unidos.

Subalit batid din natin na ang kwento ni Nanay Fedelina ay isang pilas lamang ng mapait at mas malawak na katotohanan: Marami pa tayong kababayan--mga bata, babae at nakatatanda--na biktima ng human trafficking na patuloy na sinasaktan, ikinukulong, inaabuso at sapilitang pinagtatrabaho.

During my tenure as Justice Secretary, I served as Chair of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) where I was blessed to have worked with deeply committed anti-human trafficking advocates and CSO partners. For the Philippines to have achieved Tier 1 status on the US Trafficking-in-Person (TIP) Report at the end of the Aquino administration, and maintained, thus far, under the Duterte administration, is a remarkable feat. But a lot still needs to be done, particularly on the preventive side of the campaign.

The challenge ahead is how to palpably defeat the scourge of human trafficking. Patuloy po sana tayong maging mapanuri, makisangkot at magtulungan tungo sa ganap na paglaya ng libo-libo pang Nanay Fedelina.

(Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 541, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._541)

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