New law will jail hookers' customers

BUYING or engaging the services of a prostitute could send a person in jail once the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 is signed into law Monday by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, according to Senate President Franklin Drilon.

Drilon said the new law prohibits the trafficking of persons, especially women and children, for purposes of prostitution, ****ography, ***ual exploitation, forced labor, and slavery, among others.

Another distinctive feature of the new measure is that prostitutes who are trafficked will no longer be penalized.

Drilon said this was major amendment to the Revised Penal Code, which he noted had been written in the 1930s under a "male chauvinistic society."

The maximum penalty for someone who engages the services of a prostitute is a fine of 100,000 pesos and a one-year jail sentence. For first-time offenders, the penalty is community service for six months.

Traffickers face a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. If the offense is committed against a child, the penalty is life imprisonment.


http://www.inq7.net/brk/2003/may/26/brkpol_2-1.htm


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