22 women rescued from trafficking syndicate

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 22 women bound for Syria, Jordan and Lebanon were rescued from a transit house in Villanueva Village, Parañaque City Monday afternoon.

The victims, mostly from Mindanao, said they were promised overseas jobs as household workers and that they would know their final destination and who their employers are upon arrival in Dubai, Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) head Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar said yesterday.

The transit house was a bungalow rented by the illegal recruitment syndicate for P13,000 a month and was bare of furniture, forcing the women to sleep on pieces of cardboard and woven mats. The house was identified by an informant who sought the help of the Blas F. Ople Center out of concern for a relative who remains trapped in Syria.

“Successful eradication of the human trafficking menace would be key to the drastic reduction of human trafficking cases,” Salazar said.

The Ople Center received a tip that a recruitment agency continues to deploy household helpers to Syria, where Filipinos were actually being repatriated because of civil strife; to Jordan and Lebanon, where a partial and total travel ban are imposed. All of the victims have Dubai tourist visas despite not qualifying as tourists.

Based on interviews with the Ople Center, the women expressed fears that their recruiters might run after them and force them to reimburse previous expenses connected with their airfare to Manila and stay in the transit house.

The Ople Center can be reached through 833-9562 while IACAT’s hotline is 1343.