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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 21 Filipino 'trafficking victims' repatriated from Myanmar -- BI

21 Filipino 'trafficking victims' repatriated from Myanmar -- BI

Published Jun 30, 2025 05:00 pm
Twenty-one human trafficking victims have returned to the Philippines after being “forced to work as scammers” in Myanmar, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Monday, June 30.
BI Commissioner Joel Anthony M. Viado said the 21 Filipinos arrived last June 25 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.
He said the repatriated Filipino were lured by false promises, stripped of their dignity, and forced to work under inhumane conditions.
Thus, he said, the BI will strengthen its coordination with other government agencies to ensure that those responsible are identified and brought to justice.
Those repatriated have been referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) to build up cases against those behind the trafficking, he also said.
The BI said that it learned from the victims that two of them were overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who were recruited through a third country while the rest departed the Philippines posing as tourists.
It also said the victims said that many of them responded to social media job postings, including one for a Customer Service Representative position in Thailand offering a monthly salary of $1,000.
One of the female victims disclosed that she was coerced into performing online romance scams targeting American citizens, forced to work over 14 hours daily without rest days, and never received her promised salary, the BI said.
One of the male victims, on the other hand, recounted experiencing physical abuse whenever he failed to meet quotas and was also threatened with electrocution if he reported the abuse to authorities, it also said.
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