SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian proposed increasing the budget for the enforcement of Anti-Trafficking in Persons to strengthen government’s crackdown on online sexual abuse and exploitation of children and human trafficking.

Gatchalian proposed to add P70.74 million to the P76.28 million allocated under the National Expenditure Program for ATIP enforcement.

From this proposed fund, the senator aimed to allocate P39.42 million to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking Secretariat and P31.32 million to the National Coordination Center Against OSAEC and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Secretariat.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center has reported that the Philippines ranked second worldwide when it comes to OSAEC.

The senator cited the Scale of Harm Survey by the International Justice Mission and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab which estimated that 471,416 Filipino children were trafficked to produce new child sexual exploitation material in 2022.

The country has also witnessed a rise in human trafficking incidents related to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, Gatchalian said.

“These criminal activities — human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children are real and they’re happening in our country. Hardened criminal syndicates are operating freely within our jurisdiction,” he said.

“I am suggesting increasing the budget of the anti-trafficking in persons enforcement group from 76 million to 147 million. This is to enable them to continue their work in apprehending and rescuing all human trafficking victims, as well as investigating and curbing online sexual abuse of our minors,” he added.

The budget for ATIP Enforcement under the 2024 NEP is P76.28 million. This was reduced in the 2024 GAB by P10 million, or a 13.11% decrease.