MAGDALO Partylist Rep. Manuel Cabochan III pushed a measure that will establish a human trafficking prevention education program for the youth.

House Bill 9960 or the proposed Human Trafficking Preventive Education Program Act seeks to educate students from junior high school to college about the dangers of human trafficking.

Cabochan said that human trafficking is a pervasive problem with the Philippines being one of the largest sources of child sex trafficking.

“Moreover, an estimated 10 million Filipinos work overseas — three precent of whom work without contract and remain at risk of slavery as they attempt to provide financial support to their families,” he said in his explanatory note.

The measure seeks to establish a Human Trafficking Preventive Education program that shall have a school-based component and a community-based component that will teach the youth the dangers of human trafficking and how they can avoid becoming victims.

The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking shall facilitate the establishment of a Human Trafficking Preventive Education Program.

The council, in cooperation with the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority,  shall implement a School-Based Prorgam to accomplish the objectives of the measure.