There are also family-related factors such as family breakdown, domestic violence, substance abuse, and neglect. These factors may be directly experienced by children who are abused or forced to drop out of school. There is no single reason why children are trafficked (UNICEF 2009) but rather a wide range of factors and layers of vulnerabilities related to children as individuals, their families, and the socio-economic context in which they live. Moreover, prostitution as a form of abuse is also a high-risk factor in child trafficking. These put children in greater risk of trafficking as a result of their psychological and emotional trauma. In all the study areas, there were intermittent cases of domestic violence, incest, rape, drug addiction, pornography and other violent forms of child abuse. The level of awareness on child trafficking varied across sites as gleaned from the information shared by the participants on the subject matter of child trafficking. It relied mainly on the anecdotal reports of the research participants.

Actual reported cases of trafficking were not documented in the study. The narratives showed that it cannot be divorced from the specific characteristic of feminization that has been widely acknowledged globally with women and children not only trafficked for sexual exploitation, but also for other types of work. The study mainly used the community organizing and participatory action research (COPAR) approach in the study. A rapid assessment on child trafficking in eight selected sites (Bask Pardo, Bulacao, Cansaga, Lamac, San Roque, Tangke, Labogon, and Umapad was conducted to gather baseline information on the incidence and prevalence of child trafficking in these area. While there is a wealth of documented experience, research, and analysis on sex work and sex trafficking of women and children that cover a spectrum of trafficking issues: trends causes abusive practices and policy and program interventions by multilateral institutions, states, and NGOs certain gaps remain.

Several domestic anti-trafficking initiatives both by the government and non-government organizations have been spawned in the Philippines. Trafficking in human beings is turning to be a “glocal” phenomenon - subject to increasing international attention in recent years and continuing to be a local development concern.

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