A woman has been arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for her alleged involvement in the scheme of illegally bringing Filipinas abroad to become surrogate mothers, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Monday, Oct. 21.
The NBI identified the woman as Freezle Rose Balando who was intercepted along with her three Filipina companions by immigration officers last Oct. 13 at the NAIA before they could board a flight to Thailand.
“Freezle Rose Balondo was then placed under arrest for Trafficking in Persons under RA 9208 (Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003) as amended by RA 10364 and RA 11862,” said the NBI which took custody of the suspect.
“She was presented for inquest proceedings before the Office of the City Prosecutor, Pasay City for the aforesaid violation of law,” it added.
The NBI said Balondo’s three companions initially claimed during immigration inspection “they were a group of friends going on a tour at Bangkok, Thailand for six (6) days, and that they were supposedly employed by TTEC as Customer Service Representatives.”
The bureau said the women were referred to secondary inspection “due to several inconsistencies in their declarations of two of them, as well as their failure to establish their relationship with one another and their doubtful purpose of travel.”
“The two passengers then admitted that they are not employees of TTEC and that they were bound for Thailand to be surrogate mothers via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in exchange for 8,000 to 10,000 USD,” the NBI disclosed.
“Their co-passenger, Freezle Rose Balondo y Ricanor, supplied their employment documents for their departure,” it said.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has already started its investigation over the surrogacy scheme after 20 Filipinas, 13 of them pregnanty, were rescued in Cambodia by local authorities from a syndicate involved in bringing in foreigner women to become surrogate mothers even if surrogacy is outlawed in the country.