Article 145Act No. 3815, Sec./Art. 145

Violation of parliamentary immunity.-The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall use force, intimidation, threats, or fraud to prevent any member of either House of the Legislature from attending the meetings thereof, from expressing his opinions or casting his vote; and the penalty of prision correccional shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall, while the Legislature is in session, knowingly arrest or search any member thereof, except in case such member has committed a crime punishable under this Code by a penalty higher than prision mayor.

CHAPTER THREE

ILLEGAL ASSEMBLIES AND ASSOCIATIONS

REVISED PENAL CODE TEXT AND SPECIAL PENAL LAWS

AN ACT TO INSTITUTE POLICIES TO ELIMINATE

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND

CHILDREN, ESTABLISHING THE NECESSARY

INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR THE PROTECTION

AND SUPPORT OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS, PROVIDING

PENALTIES FOR ITS VIOLATIONS, AND FOR OTHER

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of

Representatives of the Philippines in Congress

assembled :

Section 1. Title. This Act shall be known as the "Expanded

Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012" .

Section 2. Declaration of Policy. – It is hereby declared

that the State values the dignity of every human person

and guarantees the respect of individual rights. In pursuit

of this policy, the State shall give highest priority to the

enactment of measures and development of programs

that will promote human dignity, protect the people from

any

threat

of

violence

and

exploitation,

eliminate

trafficking

in

persons,

and

mitigate

pressures

for

involuntary migration and servitude of persons, not only

to support trafficked persons but more importantly, to

ensure their recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration into

the mainstream of society.

"It shall be a State policy to recognize the equal rights and

inherent human dignity of women and men as enshrined

in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human

Rights, United Nations Convention on the Elimination of

All

Forms

of Discrimination Against Women, United

Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, United

Nations Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers

and their Families, United Nations Convention Against

Transnational Organized Crime Including its Protocol to

Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,

Especially Women and Children and all other relevant

and universally accepted human rights instruments and

other international conventions to which the Philippines

is a signatory. ( as amended)

Section 3 . Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:

(a) Trafficking in Persons – refers to the recruitment,

obtaining,

hiring,

providing,

offering,

transportation,

transfer, maintaining, harboring, or receipt of persons

with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within

or across national borders by means of threat, or use of

force,

or

other

forms

of

coercion, abduction, fraud,

deception,

abuse

of

power

or

of

position,

taking

advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the giving

or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the

consent of a person having control over another person

for the purpose of exploitation which includes at a

minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or

other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services,

slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs.

The

recruitment,

transportation,

transfer,

harboring,

adoption

or

receipt

of

a

child

for

the

purpose

of

exploitation or when the adoption is induced by any form

of consideration for exploitative purposes shall also be

considered as ‘trafficking in persons’ even if it does not

involve any of the means set forth in the preceding

paragraph.

(b) Child – refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of

age or one who is over eighteen (18) but is unable to fully

take

care

of

or

protect

himself/herself

from abuse,

neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of

a physical or mental disability or condition.

(c) Prostitution – refers to any act, transaction, scheme or

design involving the use of a person by another, for sexual

intercourse or lascivious conduct in exchange for money,

profit or any other consideration.

(d) Forced Labor – refers to the extraction of work or

services

from

any

person by means of enticement,

violence, intimidation or threat, use of, force or coercion,

including deprivation of freedom, abuse of authority or

moral ascendancy, debt-bondage or deception including

any work or service extracted from any person under the

menace of penalty.

(e) Slavery – refers to the status or condition of a person

over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right

of ownership are exercised.

(f)

Involuntary

Servitude

–

refers

to

a

condition of

enforced and compulsory service induced by means of

any scheme, plan or pattern, intended to cause a person

to believe that if he or she did not enter into or continue

in such condition, he or she or another person would

suffer serious harm or other forms of abuse or physical

restraint, or threat of abuse or harm, or coercion including

depriving access to travel documents and withholding

salaries, or the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal

process.

(g) Sex Tourism – refers to a program organized by travel

and

tourism-related

establishments

and

individuals

which consists of tourism packages or activities, utilizing

and offering escort and sexual services as enticement for

tourists.

This

includes

sexual

services

and

practices

offered during rest and recreation periods for members of

the military.

(h) Sexual Exploitation – refers to participation by a

person in prostitution, pornography or the production of

pornography, in exchange for money, profit or any other

consideration or where the participation is caused or

facilitated by any means of intimidation or threat, use of

force,

or

other

forms

of

coercion, abduction, fraud,

deception, debt bondage, abuse of power or of position

or of legal process, taking advantage of the vulnerability

of the person, or giving or receiving of payments or

benefits to achieve the consent of a person having

control over another person; or in sexual intercourse or

lascivious conduct caused or facilitated by any means as

provided in this Act.

(i) Debt Bondage – refers to the pledging by the debtor of

his/her personal services or labor or those of a person

under his/her control as security or payment for a debt,

when the length and nature of services is not clearly

defined or when the value of the services as reasonably

assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt.

(j) Pornography – refers to any representation, through

publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent shows,

information technology, or by whatever means, of a

person

engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual

activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a

person for primarily sexual purposes.

(k) Council – shall mean the Inter-Agency Council Against

Trafficking created under Section 20 of this Act.

(as amended)

Section 4. Acts of Trafficking in Persons. - It shall be

unlawful for any person, natural or juridical, to commit

any of the following acts: (a) To recruit, obtain, hire,

provide, offer, transport, transfer, maintain, harbor, or

receive a person by any means, including those done

under the pretext of domestic or overseas employment or

training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution,

pornography, or sexual exploitation;

(b) To introduce or match for money, profit, or material,

economic

or

other

consideration, any person or, as

provided for under Republic Act No. 6955, any Filipino

woman to a foreign national, for marriage for the purpose

of acquiring, buying, offering, selling or trading him/her to

engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation,

forced

labor,

slavery,

involuntary

servitude

or

debt

bondage;

(c) To offer or contract marriage, real or simulated, for the

purpose of acquiring, buying, offering, selling, or trading

them to engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual

exploitation, forced labor or slavery, involuntary servitude

or debt bondage;

(d) To undertake or organize tours and travel plans

consisting

of

tourism

packages

or activities for the

purpose of utilizing and offering persons for prostitution,

pornography or sexual exploitation;

© Compiled By RGL

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