TUGUEGARAO CITY, Feb 26 (PIA) — The Regional Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking 2 (RIACAT) member-agencies vowed to pursue cases on trafficking in persons (TIP).

In a recent meeting held at Hotel Carmelita here, Prosecutor Alejo S. Tangaro, Jr. of Department of Justice (DOJ) said the task force have been active in pursuit of TIP cases that early this year, the council already conducted two rescue operations in Tuguegarao and Ilagan cities and a conviction in Isabela.

He added that in 2012, majority of the rescue they conducted are from Cagayan with eight operations, Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya with four and three, respectively. From these clandestine operations, RIACAT was able to rescue 79 individuals composed of 39 female adults , 24 male adult, 11 female minors and five male minors.

The report also cited that the Cagayan Prosecutor’s Office has 13 cases pending trial while the rest are still in their preliminary investigation status. Six cases were already filed at the Office of the City Prosecutor in Tuguegarao.

In the other parts of the region, the Prosecutor’s Office in Isabela recorded 22 cases, Ilagan with one; OCP Cauayan, eight; Santiago with one pending case; OCP-Tabuk, one and OPP Nueva Vizcaya, nine .

Tangaro said RIACAT 2 is the only task force who came up with a memorandum of agreement with the member-agencies in its bid to fully assist the clients, December 11, 2012.

It was likewise learned that in support to the TIP victims, the Department of Social Welfare and Development have built an exclusive units at the Regional Haven, Solana, Cagayan.

Meanwhile, the task force is scheduled to do an orientation-dialogue with LGU Nueva Vizcaya to reactivate the PIACAT there, Tangaro said.