THE Philippine government has informed Cambodia that babies to be borne by the 13 Filipino surrogate mothers recently convicted for violating its law against surrogacy will be considered Filipinos under Philippine laws.
“Nasabi na natin sa Cambodia ang posisyon ng pamahalaan natin na para sa atin, ang mga batang ito ay mga Pilipino dahil base sa batas natin, ang babae na nagsilang sa bata, siya ang itinuturing na nanay ng bata. Kaya sa batas natin, simple lang kung sinong babae ang nagsilang sa bata siya ang nanay at susundin ang nationality niya (We have already informed Cambodia of our government’s position that for us, these babies are considered Filipinos since based on our law the woman who gives birth to a baby is the mother, and that will be the basis of the nationality of the baby),” Ty, who is the undersecretary-in-charge of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), told reporters in a chance interview.
A Cambodian court on December 2 convicted 13 Filipino women for violating Cambodia’s Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation law and sentenced them to four years in jail. The prison sentence of the Filipino women was reduced to just two years due to mitigating circumstances.
The 13 surrogate mothers have been detained since September after they were arrested by Cambodian authorities. Seven others who were also arrested but were not pregnant were deported to Manila.
Ty said the Philippine government has also asked Cambodian authorities to process the birth certificates of the babies in the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh.
He acknowledged, though, that there will be challenges relating to the babies’ nationality since the babies “were just embedded” to the Filipino women as their surrogate mothers.
Ty said no one has come out to claim the unborn babies.
“Hindi ko alam if may naaresto sa mga nangontrata sa mga Pilipino na ito na maging surrogates. Pero natitiyak ko na kung sakaling lumutang o humabol sila, mahahatulan din sila (I do not know if any of the individuals who contracted the surrogate mothers have been arrested. But I am sure that if any of them comes out or claims the babies, they will be charged and convicted),” he added.
He said that once the babies are born and brought to Manila, the government may refer them to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) for possible adoption if their Filipina surrogate mothers refuse or decline to take care of them.
“Hindi naman natin maitatanggi na baka nagkaroon na rin ng attachment kasi ilang buwan din nilang dinala ang mga bata (We cannot rule out the possibility that they might already be attached [to their babies] considering that they carried them for several months),” Ty said, adding that one of the major concerns of Cambodian authorities is that the surrogate mothers might put up the babies for sale.
LEGAL ASSISTANCE
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it will continue to extend legal and consular assistance to the 13 Filipino women.
“Dinaramdam namin ‘yung hanggang four years ang hatol pero nabawasan pa at naging two years na lang. Binibigyan natin sila ng assistance at tinitingnan pa kung papayagan sila mapauwi (We feel hurt, but the good thing is that their four years imprisonment has been reduced to two years. We are providing them assistance and we are looking for ways on how they can be returned to the country),” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega told the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” public forum.
“Tuloy tuloy ang coordination natin sa Cambodian authorities (We are in continuous coordination with Cambodian authorities),” he added.
At the same time, De Vega renewed the DFA’s warning against those recruiting Filipino women for surrogacy to Cambodia.
“Bawal ang surrogacy sa Cambodia kaya kung may alok sa inyo online, hindi po totoo yan, bawal po sa batas nila yun at wag nyo pong gawin dahil hindi po namin sigurado na mapapalaya namin agad kayo (Surrogacy is illegal in Cambodia. If there are offers made online, these are not true, it [surrogacy] is not allowed under their laws. Don’t fall for these online recruitments because we cannot assure you that we can bail you out immediately),” he said.
Philippine Ambassador to Cambodia Flerida Ann Camille Mayo said the 13 Filipinas were recruited online by a Philippine-based agency offering surrogacy services.
“They said the offer was made online. They did not recognize the agency, as everything was done through private messaging or texting,” Mayo told TeleRadyo, adding that they also claimed they were unaware of the identities of the actual clients as their transactions were handled through a representative who only provided her name as “Ima.”
Mayo also said that the Filipinas had no knowledge of the identities of the surrogate children’s parents.
“According to them, they did not know the owners of the sperm and egg used. The embryos were implanted in them, but they were unaware of their origins,” Mayo said, adding the Filipina women were promised $10, 000 as payment for their services.
Mayo echoed De Vega’s warning to the public to exercise greater caution when dealing with recruitment agencies, including those who offer their services online.
“Let us be vigilant when it comes to job offers. Many of these seem too good to be true. If that’s the case, consider it a red flag,” the envoy said.
