Bacolod City Councilor Celia Flor (4th from left) with Paulo Sajo – DSSD-Bacolod Child Welfare Focal Person, Executive Assistant Jonathan Diaz, day care teachers and Barangay Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) Help Desk representatives.*
The Bacolod City Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD), in partnership with the City Inter-Agency Council, is strengthening its campaign against child trafficking in observance of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
The fight is particularly crucial given the escalating global threat of child trafficking, exacerbated by technological advancements, a press release from the Bacolod City Communications Office said Wednesday, July 30.
A key component of this intensified effort involves empowering daycare centers.
During a meeting with daycare teachers Wednesday, Councilor Celia Flor, Chair of the Committee on Women, Gender, Family, and Childcare, highlighted the community’s critical role in prevention.
“Daycare teachers are among the frontline in combating violence against women and children in the communities,” Flor said.
She emphasized the importance of training and education for daycare workers, asserting that, “These problems can only be solved, say eradicated, if the whole community will cooperate and the whole community is aware of the issues of trafficking.”
The urgency of the situation is underscored by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) figures revealing over 200,000 identified trafficking victims globally between 2020 and 2023.
The UNODC acknowledges this number significantly underrepresents the true scale of the problem.
Mayor Greg Gasataya, represented by Executive Assistant Jonathan Diaz, reaffirmed the city’s commitment to anti-trafficking initiatives.
“In the spirit of the Blue Heart Campaign, which reminds us that every child deserves freedom, safety, and love, may we remember that how we speak, treat others, and listen are all forms of advocacy”, Gasataya said.
The mayor connected the fight against trafficking with the promotion of gender-fair language in the workplace.
“Trafficking thrives when people are objectified or devalued. In the same way, language that excludes or denigrates based on gender, even unintentionally, reflects blind spots in how we view and treat one another”, he said.
The meeting included Paulo Sajo, DSSD-Bacolod focal person for Child Welfare, representatives from various daycare centers, and Barangay Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) Help Desk officers.*