DAVAO CITY — A repatriated Filipina who was trafficked and scammed in Myanmar paid a randon for her freedom, this was the revelation of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco during the weekened,
Tansingco said the victim was recruited through Facebook and was promised to work in an online company as customer service representative in Thailand and was promised $1000 (Php 54,000) monthly salary.
She was instructed to come as a tourist during immigration inspections but she was surprised that upon her arrival in Thailand, she was fetched by a private car and travelled to Myanmar for hours, the Immigration statement stressed.
The victim claimed that she worked for 16 hours without a day off and compensation as a marketing scammer targetting Indian nationals to invest in a platform called “Pacific Mail”.
But when she asked to leave the company, she was ordered to find for replacement but according to the immigration statement “The victim was then able to contact a friend in the Philippines who provided fake flight itineraries that would look like four people were coming to Thailand to replace her. After her employers destroyed [pieces of] evidence in her mobile phone, the Filipina was escorted back to Thailand, where she sought help from the Philippine Embassy in Thailand,” the BI revealed.
Tansingco said the repatriated victim arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 from Bangkok on April 4.
Given this circumstance, Tansingco advised that employers must first verify the persons recruiting them with the Department of Migrant Workers to ensure that they are working for legitimate company abroad and reduce the risks of getting trafficked.
“Our fellow Filipinos have been enslaved abroad without proper food and compensation. Some have even been physically abused and sexually assaulted,” he said.
Human trafficking, according to Tansingco “IS a global problem.”-Editha Z. Caduaya
