Devanadera cites Zambo’s stern anti-trafficking drive
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera recently cited the local judiciary and the support it has been receiving from the city government in the fight against human trafficking that virtually saved the country from international humiliation.
Devanadera, who picked Zamboanga City for her first official visit last week, said the Philippines would have faced embarrassment in the international campaign against human trafficking had it been not for the four convictions the local courts meted on violators.
“Of these four convictions, three came from Zamboanga City,” Devanadera said, stressing that such is a record that saved the Philippines from a lot of embarrassment in the international community.
In 2008, she said, the Department of Justice had received 168 cases, of which 97 had been filed in courts or “a very good performance of 60 percent and yet we were downgraded.”
Devenadera likewise cited the city government under the administration of Mayor Celso Lobregat for the assistance it has been extending to the local judiciary. “I thank the city government particularly Mayor Lobregat for being so much supportive to the local judiciary system.
“There is a very responsive judiciary, there is that support of the local government unit, of Mayor Lobregat and for that we cannot see no reason why we cannot succeed. In fact, we have been always referring to how the dynamics of the different branches of government in Zamboanga City is working,” Sec. Devanadera stressed.
“Sana lahat ganito ang partnership in government wherein all government agencies are moving towards one direction,” the newly appointed justice secretary said as she also commended the justices and prosecutors in this part of the country.
Devanadera has conferred on Mayor Lobregat a certificate of recognition “for his leadership, competence, courage, dynamic service, integrity and selfless commitment in the discharge of his functions thereby assisting the department and the witness protection program in obtaining justice for victims, litigants and covert witnesses in human trafficking, anti-terrorism and other cases of national significance for the rule of law in our country.”
The award was conferred during the regional consultative conference of the national prosecution service and DOJ-attached agencies held in the city last June 23.
City Prosecutor Ricardo Cabaron and two other prosecutors who were responsible in the conviction of the 3 human traffic law violators were also recognized and conferred with plaques of citation during the DOJ secretary’s visit in Zamboanga. (Vic Larato)