Legal processes are necessarily complex and thorough, and delays are often unavoidable. While some OSAEC cases can last as short as two months from prosecution to conviction, the typical case can take a few years.
In OSAEC cases, the victim is a child whose life was interrupted by online sexual exploitation and there is a greater sense of urgency in the pursuit of justice. Children rescued live in shelters or foster homes, as they go through a journey of restoration. Meanwhile, their case progresses and as they await—and hope for—the conviction of their perpetrator.
This balance between urgency, meticulous procedures, and undefined processes is a challenge that the government and NGOs like International Justice Mission have been wrestling with, in moving the work against OSAEC forward. With OSAEC and TIP cases in particular, for years, prosecutors and case workers navigated a complex path in which matters such as filing for Petitions of Certiorari and handling of habeas corpus cases were hardly straightforward.
A game-changer for prosecutors of OSAEC and TIP cases nationwide
IJM and government officers sought to streamline this process and create protocols or policies that would move the process forward faster. After years of meetings and problem-solving sessions, IJM and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) proposed the idea of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between key government agencies in the anti-OSAEC process, namely IACAT (Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking) and the Office of the Prosecutor General (OSG) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
IJM worked closely with IACAT, OSG, and OPG, to develop the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). This MOA details the methods and responsibilities of each party, which ensures efficient handling of TIP and OSAEC cases. This includes handling related habeas corpus cases, to filing petitions for certiorari, and managing cases in appellate courts.
Atty. Kathleen Piccio-Labay describes the MOA as “a game changer for all prosecutors handling OSAEC and TIP cases nationwide.” She explains that “after a long time, there is now a clear business process for the filing of Petitions for Certiorari and handling of habeas corpus cases, convictions that are the subject of automatic review by appellate courts, and litigations arising from the performance of official duties related to our partners’ functions in the investigation or prosecution of OSAEC and TIP cases.”
Designed to strengthen coordination within the justice system, this legal task force will improve the litigation of cases involving Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and OSAEC crimes. The task force will tackle complex legal challenges in cases involving TIP and OSAEC with the goal of streamlining legal procedures and providing survivors with robust legal representation throughout the judicial process.
The Formalization of the IACAT-OPG-OSG Legal Task Force
The IACAT-OPG-OSG Legal Task Force makes way for swift justice for survivors and casework teams.
The MOA was signed by IACAT Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty, Officer-In-Charge Prosecutor General Richard Anthony D. Fadullon, and Assistant Prosecutor General Thomas M. Laragan on behalf of Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra. IJM’s Atty. Rey Bicol signed the MOA as one of the witnesses.
Atty. Samson Inocencio, IJM Philippines National Director and US Department of State TIP Hero awardee, delivered the closing remarks at the ceremony: “This collaboration is an affirmation of your commitment to protecting each survivor whose case we will be able to support better through this Agreement. In this work, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the volume of cases and the number of survivors we support; but let us remember what each case means to the one survivor named in each of those case files.”
