MANILA, Philippines – Senator Risa Hontiveros has revealed a report of Filipino Overseas Workers (OFW) who were allegedly forced into the Cambodia cryptocurrency scam, later rescued by police, but then were forced to stay in at least two police stations where they reported missing money, according to the senator’s reports as of Thursday, January 19.
Hontiveros first raised the issue during a Senate hearing on Wednesday, January 18.Filipinos were tricked into working in Cambodia for a cryptocurrency scam, where they befriended victims before advising them to invest money in the scam.
One of the Filipinos known as “Miles” said they were forced to work until 4 p.m., seven days a week – especially if they couldn’t trick people into scamming.Miles witnessed his colleague being electrocuted by their supposedly Chinese employers.
In a video interview with the Hontiveros office, Miles said she flew to Thailand and traveled to Cambodia via van in October 2022 and worked in Kep province.She returned to the Philippines on January 16 and contacted Hontiveros as there were still Filipinos in Cambodia who needed to be rescued.
In November 2022, Hontiveros also revealed a report of OFW being trafficked to Myanmar to perform the exact same cryptocurrency scam.She alleged that a Chinese mafia was behind the operation.
Filipinos in both Myanmar and Cambodia have been lured out of the country by job postings on social media to become call center agents.
Filipinos who made it to Myanmar each paid Filipino immigration officials up to 20,000 pesos to let them through.
Miles also spoke of a Filipino immigration “escort” that made it easy for them to travel to the dubious work destination.
On Wednesday, Hontiveros said the Filipinos who were part of Miles’ group were rescued by Cambodian police on Monday, January 16, thanks to an intervention by the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh.
However, since the evening of Tuesday January 17, “they have been detained in a police station without beds or basic facilities”.Hontiveros said he wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) to facilitate their rapid repatriation.
The FDFA said on Thursday it was working to repatriate OFW victims of human trafficking from Southeast Asia.
Money missing
On Thursday, Hontiveros posted another video with an OFW called “Buddy”, which described the experience of the group of Filipinos moving from one police station to another after being rescued on Monday.
Buddy said cops from the Kampot police station asked about their situation with their Chinese employers.
The police also asked if they had any money, and the Filipinos replied that they had none.Buddy said the band had money for their needs, but he didn’t know how to answer the question.
Police made them sleep in the same room where they were interrogated, but their cellphones were taken from them overnight, Buddy said.Mobile phones were returned in the morning and the group was told to prepare to be transported by van to the Philippine Embassy.The cops asked the group for money for gasoline, and Buddy said they gathered about 100,000 Cambodian riels (about 1,327 pesos) to give them.
Buddy said two of the OFWs in the group discovered missing money in their cell phone cases.One had “Kuwaiti money, Khmer money and $10”, while the other lost $200.
They made the missing money known to the cops, but brushed it off so they could leave.
The group was taken to a second police station near the Philippine Embassy.Buddy said more OFWs discovered missing money amounting to hundreds of dollars from their wallets that were inside their bags.
“We told the police officers who were with us that we had disappeared, but their response was that when they asked us last night at the police station in Kampot if we had any money, we said that we had none..That’s all that happened,“said buddy.
(We told the police that we were short of money, but their response was that when they asked us at Kampot police station if we had any money, we said we didn’t We didn’t.That’s what happened.)
Buddy said that after Hontiveros’ office was notified of their situation, the food and things they needed came “immediately”.
‘Outrage’
In a Thursday statement that accompanied Buddy’s video, Hontiveros said, “It is an outrage that victims of trafficking are once again being held hostage by various restraints.”
The senator thanked the Philippine Embassy for their interventions, but reiterated her call for the DFA to facilitate the rapid repatriation of OFWs detained in Phnom Penh.
Hontiveros said she would raise the issue of funding the DFA’s aid to nationals at the “next” Senate hearing.
“We have the funds, why don’t we use them to save our fellow citizens as soon as possible?” If there is a legal entanglement, isn’t there also a government legal aid fund for Filipinos overseas?she said.
(If there are legal issues, don’t we also have a government legal assistance fund for Filipinos overseas?)
Hontiveros also thanked the Filipinos in Cambodia whom his office reached out to, who helped donate food, blankets and other forms of assistance to the group of OFW survivors.
On Thursday, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Eduardo de Vega said the DFA was “aware” of numerous cases where OFWs were promised non-existent jobs in some countries, only to be forced to work in illegal operations like online scam.
“The Department, through its embassies and in cooperation with local authorities, is working to bring home our nationals from places such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar,” the DFA said.
The DFA reiterated its call on Filipinos to be vigilant and follow regular deployment procedures through the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) before accepting and leaving for overseas jobs.
The DMW has yet to issue a statement on OFW’s latest case of trafficking in Cambodia for crypto scam.
Immigration officers under investigation
On Tuesday, January 17, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco relieved two IB staff following reports of their alleged involvement in trafficking activities at Clark International Airport ( CIA) and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Miles said she left the country through the NAIA, while other Filipinos she knew in Cambodia got out through the CIA.
“We have received information that both have links to trafficking syndicates….We are opening an investigation to verify this information, and if there is indeed probable cause, we will file the appropriate case with the Department of Justice,” Tansingco said.
The BI said that as a precaution, the two will be temporarily assigned to background office duties, pending investigation.
“This is an ongoing investigation and we will also be looking into the role of the recruiters in these human trafficking activities.If there are any names of recruiters that come out of the investigation, we will refer it to the appropriate investigative agency of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking,” said BI spokeswoman Dana Sandoval.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla backed the BI investigation.“He is already being investigated even before several names have come out,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“A factual investigation into this human trafficking to Cambodia is underway.
We never stopped trying to find out and get to the bottom of the facts.We need to know how far this has gone,” Remulla said.– with reporting by Sofia Tomacruz/Rappler.com.