AT least 100 persons were convicted for human trafficking under the Aquino administration, Vice President Jejomar Binay said on Tuesday.

“To date, there have been 100 persons convicted since 2005, with 70 of those under President Noynoy Aquino’s administration. With stronger anti-trafficking laws in place, it will be much easier for us to file more cases and secure more convictions” Binay said.

Binay said that for 2012 alone, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat) has been able to secure convictions for 28 persons in 17 human trafficking cases.

The Vice President, who is also an anti-trafficking czar, said that the government’s anti-human trafficking campaign is expected to receive a big boost once Senate Bill No. 2625, or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, is signed into law.

He lauded the Senate for unanimously approving the measure on its third and final reading.

Binay also said that with the new law in place, it would be easier for the Philippines to attain Tier 1 classification in the United States’ Global Trafficking in Persons Report.

The annual report of the United States Department of State classifies countries into tiers depending on their compliance to the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Protection Act.

“I am thankful that the Senate fully supports our campaign against human trafficking. The enactment of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act would mean greater protection for our kababayans, especially the women, children and our Overseas Filipino Workers,” Binay said.

Earlier this week, the Senate passed the bill that seeks to strengthen the government’s fight against human trafficking.

Binay said that the proposed law will allow the government to become pro-active rather than reactive in eliminating human trafficking cases and prevent overseas foreign workers from being exploited.

“The current law only allows us to file trafficking charges against perpetrators only after the actual act had been committed. Because of this, our kababayans had to be subjected to abuse first before trafficking charges could be filed,” he said.

The Vice President cited the cases of trafficking of overseas foreign workers, saying that if they were not yet transported abroad, only illegal recruitment charges could be filed against their recruiters.