📷: Courtesy of Migrante International
Filipino victims of labor trafficking in Cambodia spoke out against injustice and government neglect during a media forum last Saturday organized by Migrante International.
The victims said they were enticed by online overseas job offers as call center agents but were instead forced to work as scammers.
The workers said they were brought to large, secluded and guarded building complexes in north Cambodia, where they court, phish, and fraud fellow Filipinos online under strict quotas and threats of physical abuse.
Victims who reached out to the Philippine embassy in Phnom Penh are kept in Cambodian detention centers that were dirty and had scant access to food, water and sanitation, the victims revealed.
The group criticized the Marcos administration for its delayed repatriation efforts and inadequate aid.
“Is the Marcos government so shameless that it chooses to disregard human trafficking victims?” Migrante International deputy secretary general Josie Pingkian asked. “It is so slow in giving food, water and other essentials to detained victims. If they are even slower at processing repatriation, what more about our demand for justice?”
Support for the victims came primarily from civil society, including Churches Witnessing With Migrants – Philippines and former lawmakers Bayan Muna and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) responded, saying it was “stepping up efforts” to rescue trafficked Filipinos. Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac expressed alarm that even educated professionals are being victimized. “There are many victims now who have higher educational attainment, college level. So we wonder why they are going there,” he said.
Migrante urged the Marcos government to act decisively: “Rescue the victims still trapped in scam hubs. Remove OFWs from Cambodian detention centers. Provide financial and livelihood aid,” Pingkian demanded. “President Marcos should take this issue seriously.”
Migrante said it plans to raise the issue at the upcoming People’s SONA protests on July 28, calling for justice, repatriation, and a crackdown on traffickers. (ZIA LUNA)
