Bureau of Immigration goes after smugglers of human organs

MANILA, Philippines - First, they marry you then they run off with your kidney.

The Bureau of Immigration yesterday said it is monitoring the activities of a human organ smuggling syndicate that often preys on women from Mindanao.

Its members would marry their victims and then convince their wives to sell one of their kidneys, out of charity and for a price of P200,000.

“These organ smugglers are committing a serious form of transnational crime and they have been taking advantage of the poverty of our countrymen. The brains behind these syndicates should be identified and barred from leaving the country,” said BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan in a statement.

Human organ trading was designated as a penal offense under the Anti-trafficking Act of 2003 and those convicted of the crime can be sentenced to a jail term of 20 years and be fined up to P2 million.

Libanan also instructed the newly created Immigration offices in Mindanao to coordinate with the other members of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and the local authorities in launching a campaign that would unmask the organ smugglers.

The IACAT is made up of the BI, Departments of Social Welfare and Development, Foreign Affairs, Labor and Employment, Interior and Local Government, the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Mendoza was one of those who expressed alarm over the continued cases of organ smuggling. At least a dozen women from her province and nearby provinces have been lured by the syndicate to sell their kidneys for the price of P200,000 each.