Two suspected illegal recruiters were arrested and three Filipinos who were recruited as "sex workers" were rescued at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Sunday, Nov. 12.
In a statement, the BI said the five Filipinos, whose identities were withheld, were intercepted on Saturday, Nov. 11, at the NAIA Terminal 3 before they could board their flight to Taiwan.
Citing a report from its Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES), BI said “the five passengers were subjected to further screening after giving inconsistent answers to questions by immigration officers and for failure to explain the purpose and itinerary of their travel.”
It said "the women initially claimed they are freelance models who were traveling to Taipei for a basic training course on the Chinese language.”
“They, however, eventually confessed that they were recruited by someone on Facebook who offered them jobs as short-time sex workers for foreign customers in Taiwan,” it also said.
“Their two female companions were identified by authorities as the ones who arranged their travel and processed their documents,” it added.
The three victims of human trafficking recounted that “they were interviewed and screened inside a room in Malate, Manila where they were asked to strip naked so their bodies could be ‘assessed.'"
“They were told that their income would depend on how much time they spend with their customers and the types of activities that they will engage with them,” the BI said.
The five intercepted Filipinos have been turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and filing of appropriate charges against the recruiters.
“We commend our immigration officers for successfully foiling this attempt to traffic these women who were lured to make a living as sex workers,” said BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco.
He said the incident is a “clear case of human trafficking which the BI must combat to protect the well-being of Filipino women."