MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed on Wednesday the rescue of 20 Filipino women who were reportedly brought by a Philippine agency to become surrogate moms in Cambodia.
In a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon interview, DFA Undersecretary for Migration Eduardo Jose de Vega said 13 are already in various stages of pregnancy and are currently sheltered in a local hospital. The seven are set to be repatriated.
De Vega assured that the Filipinas are visited and given assistance, including support for their personal and pre-natal needs.
He added the Philippine government is in coordination with relevant agencies to combat future surrogacy cases or human trafficking cases involving Filipinos.
The Khmer Times on October 8 reported that “a Philippine agency has been found to be bringing Filipinas into (Cambodia) to be artificially impregnated to provide babies for an infant-trafficking syndicate”.
In a separate statement, the Philippine Embassy in Cambodia confirmed that 20 were rescued by the Cambodian National Police (CNP) in Kandal Province last September 23 and that it was made in line with the country’s Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation.
Based on preliminary interviews, the recruitment of these 20 Filipino women took place online by an individual whose identity and nationality have yet to be determined.
The recruiter with an apparently assumed name arranged for the women to travel to another Southeast Asian country but eventually sent them to Cambodia where surrogacy is banned.
At the time of their rescue, the women were found under the care of a local “nanny”, together with four other women from a neighboring country.
The embassy continues to coordinate with the Cambodian authorities for the speedy resolution of the case. (PNA)