10 Pinays rescued from trafficking

MANILA, Philippines — Immigration officers intercepted 10 Filipinas who tried to leave for Singapore on Friday for jobs as sex workers, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported yesterday.

“We received information earlier this month from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) that these women were being trafficked abroad. They were recruited as entertainers but would end up as sex workers,” BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.

The women claimed that they were traveling as tourists. However, a closer inspection of their records revealed valid working permits as entertainers in Singapore., the BI said.

They were allegedly recruited online to work in a pub in Singapore for a salary of P40,000 per month. They were told their travel expenses would be deducted from their pay for six months.

“This is a clear example of debt bondage – a tactic in trafficking – wherein they are made to pay the expenses for their recruitment,” Tansingco said. “These expenses pile up, and they end up being forced to work to pay their debt.”

The victims were turned over to IACAT for assistance in filing cases against their recruiters.