SENATE probers dug deeper Tuesday into a reported “sexual trafficking” racket, zeroing in on cases of overseas Filipina workers lured to fake jobs in Syria, prompting options to forge reform agreements with countries hosting OFWs.
This, as two witnesses—alias Belen and Miss Caro—related to members of the Senate Committees on Labor and on Women their experience as “sexual trafficking victims” after their employer paid to acquire them for P50,000.
“When we arrived…we were treated as prisoners and sold,” they told Senate probers led by Senators Joel Villanueva (Labor panel) and Risa Hontiveros (Women).
They recalled that upon arrival at Dubai airport, they were asked to transfer counters to avoid questions, on advice of their recruiter. Belen recalled that Carol eventually left for Damascus and was told to go to a specified counter.
Under questioning by the Senate panel, Carol said she was airing an appeal for President Duterte to monitor immigration authorities assigned at the airport. “Sana bantayan niyo immigration para po makabawi kami [We hope you will watch immigration so we can get justice],” Carol pleaded.
The senators were informed that many Filipino workers in Syria were “similarly duped and kept as slaves and not allowed to go home.”
Under questioning by Senate probers, the witness said she was testifying to “bare the “racket” at the Bureau of Immigration “to stop sending Filipina OFWs to Syria,” adding that she “would not have gone to Syria if she knew that would happen.”
Another victim complained that she was forced by her employers and recruiters to have an abortion when she learned belatedly that she was pregnant.
For his part, Senator Villanueva stressed the importance of having agreements with countries that host overseas Filipino workers to prevent jobseekers from falling prey to human traffickers.
The Labor committee chairman said the bilateral agreements would allow the Philippine government to run after third-country recruiters who send Filipinos to perilous locations, like Syria where a total ban on deployment has been in place since 2011.
“Under the bilateral labor agreements, there would be sufficient protection for our countrymen against human trafficking syndicates that prey on the situation of our workers,” Villanueva said after the Senate panel hearing on trafficking involving Filipino women to Syria.
“In our labor committee hearings, it has been well-established that the rise of third-country recruitment poses a huge threat to our ongoing efforts against illegal recruitment and human trafficking,” Villanueva said, adding: “The crafting of bilateral agreements to strengthen coordination would be one step to solve this.”
Citing the plight of Filipinos in Syria who fell victim to human trafficking syndicates, the Senator said he was told the victims have since been rescued and in the custody of the Philippine Embassy in Damascus.
Still, the lawmaker lamented the situation of a Filipino worker currently languishing in jail unless she paid $5,000 to her employer to “buy out” her contract.