Avoiding to trust people easily especially those persons who may have attempted to or have lured vulnerable persons with material gifts, becoming more open to their families, listening to their parent’s advice, and staying strong and speaking out about their experience among the learnings of the respondents when they were asked about the lessons they have learned from the trafficking incidents. “Nausab akong kinaiya ug natarong ko. Dili nako magchat og mga dili kaila. Maminaw ug magpahibalo sa mama kon asa ko mulakaw (I was able to change my attitude and I corrected my ways. I do not chat people I do not personally know now. I have learned to listen to my mother and inform her of my whereabouts),” a female respondent in Cebu shared her realization. One of the respondents in Iloilo laments: “I learned that I should obey and respect my parents Now, I am helping my family in taking good care of my siblings by teaching them in their school modules. I also help in doing the chores now.” 4. Challenges in Assisting Survivors of Human Trafficking: Based on the experience of CLB, there are several challenges in assisting and protecting survivors of human trafficking, among them are: a. Lack of willingness of some victims to cooperate in filing or prosecuting trafficking cases (esp. parent perpetrators), some are threatened, some are bribed, even lawyers (of the respondents) meet with parents of victims to convince them to withdraw the case. Quinamaque and Tapayan of CLB share the observation that some victims hesitate to pursue cases against parent-perpetrators, which results in either failing to prosecute or entering into a plea bargaining deal. “It helps if the victims are inside the shelter because they would later become educated about what exactly happened to them. But still, it remains a challenge because most children don’t want their parents to go to prison,” Quinamaque said. There also persists the issue of perpetrators, mostly foreign nationals, who attempt to bribe parents and victims in exchange for desisting from filing charges against them. For one, CLB is actively handling a case against a foreign national who attempted to pay the mother of the trafficking survivor sums of money after filing trafficking charges against him, an act that is considered to promote trafficking and prohibited by law. “Some opposing lawyers meet victims or convince parents. Such acts affect the decision of the child,” Quinamaque revealed. b. Limitations of law enforcement agencies. This include lack of resources which is frequently the reason for their belated responses to reports and referred cases. Another problem is their lack of skills in drafting affidavits which could sometimes cause dismissal of cases before the prosecutor’s office. 49