SENATE deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros yesterday said she has received information that the more than 1,000 trafficked individuals who were forced to work in scam centers in Pasay City have allegedly been transferred to Cavite.
In an interview with Dateline Philippines, Hontiveros said an Indonesian victim reached out to her social media page and sought her help to be rescued from his employers.
“Another Indonesian national reached out to my Facebook page, asking to be rescued in Pasay (city). What’s disturbing about what happened to this person compared to what happened to Ridwan, a few days later, the person informed my staff that they were suddenly transferred to Cavite,” Hontiveros said.
Ridwan, not his real name, was an Indonesian who told senators in a hearing that he was reportedly a victim of a cryptocurrency syndicate which operated at a unit in the Bayport NAIA Residence in Pasay City.
Ridwan said he saw a Facebook post looking for a call center agent in the Philippines. He arrived in the country in March but was able to go back to the country after pretending he was sick and could not work as a cryptocurrency agent victimizing his fellow Indonesians.
Ridwan has said that he and another Indonesian who came with him were brought to a condominium unit in Pasay City which was being used as a scam hub.
Hontiveros said the Indonesian and other employees of the company could have been forced to move out of Pasay City to stop authorities from tracking them “because one of them attempted to reach out to the Indonesian embassy to get help pero nahuli siya nung Chinese bosses nila (but was caught by their Chinese bosses).”
Hontiveros said the Bureau of Immigration has a lot of explaining to do as to how these foreigners were trafficked into the country, especially after more than 1,000 mostly foreigners were recently rescued in a scam center in Clark, Pampanga.
“Tiwala ako, for the record, na ang Bureau of Immigration at iba pang ahensiya ng gobyerno na gagawin ang lahat para matuldukan na ang human trafficking. But in specific cases like this now, what just transpired in Clark, matatanong pa rin ‘yan sa BI.
(For the record, I am confident that the Bureau of Immigration and other government agencies will do everything to stop human trafficking. But in specific cases like this now, what just transpired in Clark, the BI will still be questioned about that),” Hontiveros said.
She urged concerned government agencies to work together to stop human trafficking, noting that the country has porous shorelines which can be used by criminal syndicates to traffic people.
