COTABATO
CITY --- To protect the rights of the Bangsamoro Overseas Filipino
Workers (OFWs), the Bangsamoro government signed a Memorandum of Agreement
(MOA) with the Blas F. Ople Policy Center last January 21 at the Bangsamoro
Government Center in Cotabato City.
The MOA, which aims to create the Bangsamoro Task Force
against Human Trafficking of OFWs from the region, was signed by BARMM
Executive Secretary Abdulraof Macacua
and Blas F. Ople Policy Center president Susan V. Ople.
The signing was attended by Bangsamoro Executive
Secretary Abdulraof Macacua, Assistant Executive Secretary Abdullah Cusain,
Attorney General Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba, and other officials from the BARMM’s
different ministries and offices.
In Macacua’s message, he stressed that “in an ideal
world, all our Bangsamoro brothers and sisters working abroad will go back to
their roots and would no longer have to leave apart from their families – so,
they won’t have to be exposed to the dangers of human trafficking.”
“We owe a lot to the Bangsamoro OFWs who actively
campaigned for the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law and publicly supported
and encouraged their family to vote ‘yes’ to the ratification of the said law
exactly a year ago today [January 21, 2020],” he added.
“The said agreement is a commitment of the BARMM to
guarantee the fundamental rights of the Bangsamoro against human trafficking
and other forms of abuse and human rights violations,” Macacua said.
“It is unfortunate that our OFWs are vulnerable to human
trafficking, but it is more unfortunate that despite the rising statistics of
human trafficking involving OFWs, more and more Filipinos are enticed by the
promise of a greener pasture abroad,” he added.
Meanwhile, Atty. Dumama-Alba said that the creation of
the Bangsamoro Task Force Against Human Trafficking of OFWs hopes to “establish
mechanisms of detecting and identifying early signs of human trafficking by
setting up credible and reliable data management and case monitoring system on
OFWs and human trafficking incidence.”
She said it will also identify, determine, and discuss
the root causes of illegal migration to determine its approach on how to
effectively combat trafficking networks, as well as receive, document, track
report, and gather evidences on human trafficking involving Bangsamoro OFWs
case build-up.
The Blas F. Ople Policy Center is working closely with
the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) in the strengthening of a
specialized Task Force for monitoring and providing support for the
investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases against OFWs.
The Office of the Chief Minister is set to identify and
designate a focal office to spearhead the creation, establishment, and
operation of the Task Force.
“The MOA is just good for a year, so talagang kailangan
natin i-operationalized [ang creation ng Bangsamoro Task Force],” Dumama-Alba
said.
The creation of the Bangsamoro Task Force is spearheaded
by the Office of the Chief Minister. Other ministries and offices of BARMM will
also be represented in the Task Force. (BUREAU
OF PUBLIC INFORMATION - BARMM, MINDANAO EXPOSE')
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