Two human trafficking victims rescued in Clark

CLARK FREEPORT — Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Clark International Airport (CIA) in Pampanga have rescued two women, who are suspected human trafficking victims.

The agency said the two attempted to leave the country by disguising as seafarers.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the BI’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) said the passengers were intercepted last May 24, as they were about to board a Cebu Pacific flight to Bangkok.

According to the agency, the women initially claimed they were sea-based overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) recruited to work in Thailand, and presented spurious documents to mislead immigration officers.

The two eventually confessed that their final destination is Laos where they were hired to work as call center agents.

The BI earlier reported the increase in number of Filipinos trafficked to Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, where they were recruited as call center agents, only to end up working for scamming companies.

“The modus operandi here is for the victims to initially fly to Thailand where they would then board their connecting flight to Laos,” Tansingco noted.

BI said the victims even narrated that they were recruited to work in Laos via an advertisement they saw on social media.

The two said they paid P40,000 each to their handlers in exchange for processing their bogus travel documents.

The victims were referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for assistance and filing of cases against their recruiters, BI said.

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