THE problem of Filipinos being victims of human trafficking in the Asian region was first brought to the fore by Sen. Risa Hontiveros. She reported last November about a group of 12 workers rescued by government after they were recruited illegally for non-existent call center jobs in Myanmar.
The victims were detained by a syndicate and made to do online scams involving cryptocurrencies, victimizing investors from all over the world. The senator later reported that at least 31 more such workers were victimized and needed to be rescued in Myanmar.
As if this were not enough, Hontiveros disclosed last week that some 40 Filipinos were also illegally recruited to work as crypto-scammers, this time in Cambodia.
‘Law enforcement authorities can only do so much in fighting this human trafficking menace, especially so because they would have to weed out the corrupt among their ranks.’
“Filipinos are becoming the main target of human trafficking syndicates. After we assisted the Filipinos in Myanmar who were abused and forced to work as crypto-scammers, now, we learned that there is a similar modus in Cambodia, too. These fraud factories are part of a disturbing industry that has to be dismantled,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
She said the information came “Miles,” one of the Filipinos trafficked to Cambodia to work as a cryptocurrency scammer for a Chinese mafia.
Similar to the case of human trafficking in Myanmar, according to Miles, they were forced by their Chinese bosses to dupe citizens from countries like the United States and Canada, and encourage them to invest in risky cryptocurrencies.
Hontiveros further quoted Miles as saying that if they fail to convince a client, they are made to work for more than 16 hours without sleep, and one was even punished by electrocution.
She said Miles claimed that immigration officers both at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and at Clark International Airport were working in connivance with their recruiters in sending workers off to Thailand, from where they are smuggled into Myanmar and Cambodia to work.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has been busy following up the case of these migrant workers, trying to save and repatriate them. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) has started to look into the problem, trying to ascertain the extent of Hontiveros’ allegation of corrupt practices at the airports, and instituting temporary corrective measures.
Law enforcement authorities can only do so much in fighting this human trafficking menace, especially so because they would have to weed out the corrupt among their ranks. So the first line of defense against being victimized is the individual himself/herself. The advice to the public to coordinate with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) first before accepting jobs overseas offered through social media is a primordial rule that cannot be ignored by all job seekers.
