THE Bureau of Immigration thwarted an attempt by a syndicate to traffic three Filipinas to work as sex workers in Taiwan last Saturday.
In the same operation, two suspected female recruiters of the would-be victims were also apprehended.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the three victims and their recruiters were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 before they could board a Cebu Pacific Air flight to Taipei.
Tansingco said immigration agents noticed the inconsistent answers provided by the five and their failure to explain the purpose and itinerary of their travel.
“We commend our immigration officers for successfully foiling this attempt to traffic these women who were lured to make a living as sex workers,” Tansingco said, adding the incident is a “clear case of human trafficking that the BI must combat to protect the well-being of Filipino women.”
Citing a report from the BI’s immigration protection and border enforcement section, Tansingco said the women initially claimed they were freelance models traveling to Taipei for a basic training course on the Chinese language.
However, upon questioning, they eventually confessed they were recruited by someone on Facebook who offered them jobs as short-time sex workers for foreign customers in Taiwan.
Tansingco said the women who were apprehended with the would-be victims arranged the travel and processed the documents of the three.
“They were told that their income would depend on how much time they spend with their customers and the types of activities that they will engage in,” Tansingco said, adding the three also recounted they were interviewed and screened inside a room in Malate, Manila where they were asked to strip naked so their bodies could be “assessed.”
All five were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and filing of appropriate charges against the recruiters.
