News from home: Eight trafficking victims repatriated, China’s intimidation tactics

MANILA, Philippines — From Philippines bringing home more human trafficking victims and the Philippine Coast Guard reporting being directed a military-grade laser at by China while in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal — these were among our headlines and news stories from the past week we think you should know if you’re a Filipino based abroad.

Overseas Filipinos

• The Department of Foreign Affairs has repatriated eight Filipino human trafficking victims from Myanmar. The male half of the group were recruited online from Dubai and were promised jobs as customer support representatives in Thailand, while four women were detained for reportedly crossing Myanmar from Thailand. 
• A Filipino worker rescued after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Türkiye is recovering in a hospital in Adana. Philippine authorities continue to work with Filipino communities to help affected Filipinos based in the quake-hit country.

Work and the economy

• A labor group asked Sen. Raffy Tulfo to push for a P100 minimum wage hike for minimum wage workers as the country’s inflation rate continues to soar. Partido Manggagawa estimated that the 8.7% inflation rate in January equated to P88 off of the P570 minimum wage in Metro Manila.
• Following his official working visit to Japan, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said three Japanese firms have already expressed interest in investing in the administration’s controversial Maharlika Wealth Fund. 

Politics and the nation

• The Philippine Coast Guard reported that China directed a military-grade laser against BRP Malapascua while in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal. China blamed the Philippines for being within Beijing’s territory, even if the Ayungin Shoal is within Manila’s exclusive economic zone. 

  The Philippines has since filed a diplomatic protest over the incident, with the Department of Foreign Affairs calling out China for “destabilizing the peace and security” in the region.” However, Marcos Jr. said the country would not be invoking its Mutual Defense Treaty with the US as it will further intensify tensions in the area.

• More Filipinos are “satisfied” with Marcos Jr.’s performance as the country's chief executive. According to a December poll done by SWS, 75% of their respondents were happy with Marcos Jr.’s leadership with a +68 in net satisfaction, inching up from the 71% logged in the previous quarter when net satisfaction was at +63.

• Ahead of the day marking a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, Marcos Jr. finally spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over a call last week. Zelensky thanked the Philippines for “supporting sovereignty and [the] territorial integrity” of Ukraine.

• The country reported its first confirmed case of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, said to be the most transmissble variant of the virus that causes COVID-19. The Filipino had no recent travel history and as of writing, has already recovered.

You can view last week’s rundown here or sign up for the newsletter here.