Republic Act 9208: Philippines Anti-
Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003
An Act to institute policies to eliminate trafficking in persons especially women and
children, establishing the necessary institutional mechanisms for the protection and
support of trafficked persons, providing penalties for its violations, and for other
purposes.
Section 1.Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of
2003.”
Section 2.Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared that the State values the
dignity of every human person and guarantees the respect of individual rights. In pursuit
of this policy, the State shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures and
development of programs that will promote human dignity, protect the people from any
threat of violence and exploitation, eliminate trafficking in persons, and mitigate
pressures for involuntary migration and servitude of persons, not only to support
trafficked persons but more importantly, to ensure their recovery, rehabilitation and
reintegration into the mainstream of society.
It shall be a State policy to recognize the equal rights and inherent human dignity of
women and men as enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human
Rights, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations
Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families, United Nations
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime Including its Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and all
other relevant and universally accepted human rights instruments and other
international conventions to which the Philippines is a signatory.
Section 3.Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act:
(a) Trafficking in Persons — refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer or
harbouring, or receipt of arsons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within
or across national borders by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of
coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage
of the vulnerability of the persons, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of
exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or
other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the
removal or sale of organs.
, The recruitment transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose
of exploitation shall also be considered as “trafficking in persons” even if it does not
involve any of the means set forth in the preceding paragraph.
(b) Child — refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of age or one who is over
eighteen (18) but is unable to fully take care of or protect himself/herself from abuse,
neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability
or condition.
(c) Prostitution — refers to any act, transaction, scheme or design involving the use
of a person by another, for sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct in exchange for
money, profit or any other consideration.
(d) Forced Labor and Slavery — refer to the extraction of work or services from any
person by means of enticement, violence, intimidation or threat, use of force or
coercion, including deprivation of freedom, abuse of authority or moral ascendancy,
debt-bondage or deception.
(e) Sex Tourism — refers to a program organized by travel and tourism-related
establishment and individuals which consists of tourism packages or activities, utilizing
and offering escort and sexual services as enticement for tourists. This includes sexual
services and practices offered during rest and recreation periods for members of the
military.
(f) Sexual Exploitation — refers to participation by a person in prostitution or the
production of pornographic materials as a result of being subjected to a threat,
deception, coercion, abduction, force, abuse of authority, debt bondage, fraud or
through abuse of a victim’s vulnerability.
(g) Debt Bondage — refers to the pledging by the debtor of his/her personal services
or labor or those of a person under his/her control as security or payment for a debt,
when the length and nature of services is not clearly defined or when the value of the
services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt.
(h) Pornography — refers to any representation, through publication, exhibition,
cinematography, indecent shows, information technology, or by whatever means, of a
person engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of
the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual purposes.
(i) Council — shall mean the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking created under
Sec. 20 of this Act.
Section 4. Acts of Trafficking in Persons. — It shall be unlawful for any person,
natural or judicial, to commit any of the following acts.
Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003
An Act to institute policies to eliminate trafficking in persons especially women and
children, establishing the necessary institutional mechanisms for the protection and
support of trafficked persons, providing penalties for its violations, and for other
purposes.
Section 1.Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of
2003.”
Section 2.Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared that the State values the
dignity of every human person and guarantees the respect of individual rights. In pursuit
of this policy, the State shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures and
development of programs that will promote human dignity, protect the people from any
threat of violence and exploitation, eliminate trafficking in persons, and mitigate
pressures for involuntary migration and servitude of persons, not only to support
trafficked persons but more importantly, to ensure their recovery, rehabilitation and
reintegration into the mainstream of society.
It shall be a State policy to recognize the equal rights and inherent human dignity of
women and men as enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human
Rights, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations
Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families, United Nations
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime Including its Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and all
other relevant and universally accepted human rights instruments and other
international conventions to which the Philippines is a signatory.
Section 3.Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act:
(a) Trafficking in Persons — refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer or
harbouring, or receipt of arsons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within
or across national borders by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of
coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage
of the vulnerability of the persons, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of
exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or
other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the
removal or sale of organs.
, The recruitment transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose
of exploitation shall also be considered as “trafficking in persons” even if it does not
involve any of the means set forth in the preceding paragraph.
(b) Child — refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of age or one who is over
eighteen (18) but is unable to fully take care of or protect himself/herself from abuse,
neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability
or condition.
(c) Prostitution — refers to any act, transaction, scheme or design involving the use
of a person by another, for sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct in exchange for
money, profit or any other consideration.
(d) Forced Labor and Slavery — refer to the extraction of work or services from any
person by means of enticement, violence, intimidation or threat, use of force or
coercion, including deprivation of freedom, abuse of authority or moral ascendancy,
debt-bondage or deception.
(e) Sex Tourism — refers to a program organized by travel and tourism-related
establishment and individuals which consists of tourism packages or activities, utilizing
and offering escort and sexual services as enticement for tourists. This includes sexual
services and practices offered during rest and recreation periods for members of the
military.
(f) Sexual Exploitation — refers to participation by a person in prostitution or the
production of pornographic materials as a result of being subjected to a threat,
deception, coercion, abduction, force, abuse of authority, debt bondage, fraud or
through abuse of a victim’s vulnerability.
(g) Debt Bondage — refers to the pledging by the debtor of his/her personal services
or labor or those of a person under his/her control as security or payment for a debt,
when the length and nature of services is not clearly defined or when the value of the
services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt.
(h) Pornography — refers to any representation, through publication, exhibition,
cinematography, indecent shows, information technology, or by whatever means, of a
person engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of
the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual purposes.
(i) Council — shall mean the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking created under
Sec. 20 of this Act.
Section 4. Acts of Trafficking in Persons. — It shall be unlawful for any person,
natural or judicial, to commit any of the following acts.
