The Philippine National Police (PNP) rescued 29 foreigners in Paranaque City after they allegedly became victims of human trafficking and forced to work as employees of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO).
Police Maj. Gen. Eliseo DC Cruz, head of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), said 23 of the victims are Malaysians while six are Chinese.
The victims were rescued by personnel of the PNP Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC) at their accommodation unit in Barangay Tambo on Thursday, Sept. 29.
In a press briefing Friday, Sept. 30, Cruz said that the operation stemmed from the initial rescue of two Myanmar nationals – a male and female – from their company last Sept. 22. The victims were turned over to the Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) on the same day and referred to the WCPC five days later.
“The victims were interviewed by the WCPC investigators and found out that they are indeed victims of human trafficking. The duo also informed the investigators that a relative of theirs and other Myanmar nationals were left in the same company and are still being forced and exploited to work as online scammers,” Cruz said.
The police immediately hatched an operation which led to the rescue of the female cousin of the Malaysian victims and 28 others while packed inside their accommodation unit.
Forced labor
According to the victims, they were on a tourist visa in Dubai in January 2022 when they were recruited via Telegram, a messaging application, by a fellow Myanmar national identified only as “Christine.”
Accordingly, Christine urged the victims to work as customer representatives in the two companies she allegedly owns in the Philippines.
The victims arrived in Manila on March 28 and met Christine in an accommodation unit in Paranaque City. The passports of the victims were confiscated by Christine and they were never returned to the foreigners.
On April 1, the victims started working as customer representatives at a certain Oriental Group of Company located in Pasay City. Christine allegedly promised the victims with a monthly salary of P60,000. The victims worked up to 14 hours per day with no holidays, and received no pay for the month of April. Their salary was only given in May.
“They worked by chatting with potential clients by encouraging them to play and invest money online, which for them is a form of online scamming,” Cruz said.
The victims then told Christine that they wanted to resign but the suspect only transferred them to a different company in Pasay City. The victims insisted they wanted to quit but they were told to pay P550,000 so they can go back to Myanmar.
“Accordingly, they were locked in a room, beaten, and electrocuted by use of electric taser with no food and water since they no longer want to work,” Cruz narrated.
Sometime in August, the victims were transferred to a condominium unit in Pasay where they were locked up for two days. They were “sold” and transferred to a certain Shuan Ma Company in Bacoor, Cavite for P3.49 million where they were again forced to work as online scammers.
On Sept. 22, two of the Malaysian nationals were rescued by the local police, which led to the involvement of the PNP-AKG and WCPC.
“With these recent developments, we would like to emphasize that the PNP is operating continuously and we appreciate information being relayed by the community on the presence of suspicious POGO operations,” Cruz said.
“Because of such information, immediate police response that trafficking of persons is happening in the guise of POGO operations,” he added.