MANILA: The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has expressed concern over the increasing number of women being trafficked for illegal surrogacy overseas, following the interception of an eighth victim last week. This development highlights a growing and troubling trend of individuals being misled into surrogate roles under false pretenses.
According to Philippines News Agency, Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado announced that a 37-year-old woman was apprehended on October 15 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City. She was attempting to board a Turkish Airlines flight to Batumi, Georgia, under the guise of a business trip as a sales associate. However, discrepancies in her statements led the primary inspection officer to refer her for a secondary inspection, during which she confessed to being recruited as a surrogate mother.
The victim disclosed that a male recruiter contacted her via WhatsApp, offering PHP28,000 monthly during pregnancy and over PHP500,000 after childbirth. The recruiter p
romised covered medical treatments and other benefits, including documentation and travel costs, enticing her to participate in the scheme.
The intercepted woman has been referred to the inter-agency council against trafficking for assistance and to pursue legal action against her recruiters. Mary Jane Hizon, chief of the BI’s immigration protection and border enforcement section (I-PROBES), highlighted this case as a novel form of human trafficking, associating forced labor with surrogacy arrangements. Victims are initially lured with promises of favorable living conditions, only to face exploitation and abuse.
This incident adds to a series of similar cases, with two victims intercepted on October 12 and another on October 3 last year. Previously, on January 1, 2017, BI officers prevented four victims from leaving the country. Earlier this month, Cambodian authorities rescued 20 Filipino women reportedly brought by a Philippine agency to become surrogate mothers in Cambodia.