Police
rescued 70 women, 30 of whom were minors as young as 16, from an human
trafficking lair that only gave them one cup of rice daily, among other abuses.
The Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group
(CIDG) said that on Tuesday, June 17, it raided the Happy World Human Resources
Recruitment Agency located along Suerte Street, Pasay City, after receiving a
complaint from one of the victims. The 16-year-old victim ran to the CIDG after
she managed to escape fro the company. The director of the CIDG, Benjamin
Magalong, said the girl was recruited to work as a domestic helper in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia. She had come all the way from Cotabato, and was picked up at the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport by a woman she refers to as “Ms. Ellen”. Magalong
said she “was given a phony birth certificate bearing the name of a fictitious
person and was told to change her age from 16 to 23.” Magalong also said that
around 70 others were “not allowed to use their cellphones, had to sleep on the
floor, and were being fed with a cup of rice a day.” Those who recruited them
will be charged for violation of the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995 and the
Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. The Migrant Workers’ Act penalizes
illegal recruitment, which includes, among other things, using false
information to secure a license under the Philippines’ Labor Code. On the other
hand, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act defines trafficking as an act, among
others, “to recruit…under pretext of domestic or overseas employment or
training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography,
sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt
bondage.” Human trafficking continues to be a problem in the country, and as a
result the United States had retained its Tier 2 rating in its annual
Trafficking in Persons Report, which is a basis for granting aid. Although
convictions for human trafficking have increased over the years, these cases
remain concentrated in certain areas in the Philippines.
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