Section 16Sec./Art. 16

A new Section 16-A is hereby inserted into Republic Act No. 9208, to read as follows:

"SEC. 16-A. Anti-Trafficking in Persons Database. An anti-trafficking in persons central database shall be established by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking created under Section 20 of this Act. The Council shall submit a report to the President of the Philippines and to Congress, on or before January 15 of every year, with respect to the preceding years programs and data on trafficking-related cases.

"All government agencies tasked under the law to undertake programs and render assistance to address trafficking in persons shall develop their respective monitoring and data collection systems, and databases, for purposes of ensuring efficient collection and storage of data on cases of trafficking in persons handled by their respective offices. Such data shall be submitted to the Council for integration in a central database system.

"For this purpose, the Council is hereby tasked to ensure the harmonization and standardization of databases, including minimum data requirements, definitions, reporting formats, data collection systems, and data verification systems. Such databases shall have, at the minimum, the following information:

"(a) The number of cases of trafficking in persons, sorted according to status of cases, including the number of cases being investigated, submitted for prosecution, dropped, and filed and/or pending before the courts and the number of convictions and acquittals;

"(b) The profile/information on each case;

"(c) The number of victims of trafficking in persons referred to the agency by destination countries/areas and by area of origin; and

"(d) Disaggregated data on trafficking victims and the accused/defendants."