A Filipino who was trafficked to Myanmar and forced to work as a cryptocurrency scammer in a Chinese-led syndicate but was rescued by the government was among the 650 workers authorities found in a suspected “scam hub” in Pasay City. Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) confirmed this at the continuation of the Senate Committee on Women, Children Family Relations and Gender Equality’s probe into the human trafficking and cybercrime operations in the country, led by Sen. Risa Hontiveros. The raid in the four-floor Pasay City establishment was registered under Rivendell Corporation. According to Ty, the company was supposed to be a registered service provider but were operating as cyber scams, as only a few rooms were used for gambling. “We suspect that every time there is an inspection, they use this as a front. This is just a very small part of the operation,” Ty told senators during the hearing. According to Ty, the IACAT has also observed how some of these Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) earlier raided have backtracked in employing foreigners and are now hiring more Filipinos to avoid any badges linking them to human trafficking. As a result, Ty said the IACAT now has a list of Filipinos rescued from human trafficking which they will use as references in their future operations. Hontiveros branded this latest development as a “tragedy,” saying this shows that the government has not yet resolve the root cause of human trafficking in the first place. “It strongly shows the need to strengthen the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and for the Executive departments and agencies to strictly implement this law,” Hontiveros said in a press briefing after the hearing. The senator, however, refused to believe that the supposed victim-survivor who was rescued in Myanmar was a “willing victim.” “Wala po sa bokabularyo ko ang konseptong ‘willing victims.’ Pag victim, victim talaga, gaano pa man karaming beses siya mabiktima at kailangang mag-survive sa ganyang phenomenon (the concept of ‘willing victims’ is not in my vocabulary. Once a victim, a victim, no matter how many times he became a victim and needs to survive in that kind of phenomenon),” she said. “Dahil yung mga ugat kung bakit siya maaaring nakipagsapalaran o ulit na nakipagsapalaran unaddressed pa rin (Because the reasons why he took the risk again is still unaddressed),” she pointed out.