Human trafficking victims rescued

The Bureau of Immigration on Sunday disclosed that its operatives were able to rescue four individuals believed to be victims of human trafficking after they were discovered to be posing as tourists as they were leaving for Bangkok, Thailand recently.

BI officials said that the four individuals — three girls and one male — attempted to board a Cebu Pacific flight for Bangkok on 17 February before they were intercepted at the Clark International Airport.

Reports from the BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section revealed that two victims were reported to be cousins who recruited them to work in Koh Kong, Cambodia, using Facebook.

It added that the two invited the other victims to come to the workplace with them as rumors circulated that they were told to pretend to be tourists in Thailand in order to deceive the immigration officials.

The victims also admitted that they were offered a job as a non-voice customer representative with a monthly salary of around US$800, free food and accommodation.

“These individuals have good backgrounds and are tech-savvy, yet they chose to be blinded by the offers of these syndicates,” Tansingco said.

According to the BI chief, there have been hundreds of repatriates who were recruited using the exact same modus but ended up working in scam hubs with low salaries and being physically abused.

The agency said that earlier this year, the government repatriated a couple who were recruited under similar terms and ended up detained and subjected to physical abuse by their employers.

They were also made to pay nearly P800,000 to be released by their company.

The four victims were turned over to the CIA Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance in filing cases against their recruiters.