Migrante: 3 more 'sex-for-flight' victims to come out

MANILA, Philippines - A migrant workers rights group on Wednesday said three more "sex-for-flight" victims may surface soon to reveal their ordeal at the hands of labor and embassy officials in the Middle East.

John Monterona, vice chairperson of Migrante, said that two of the three female overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia waiting to be repatriated to the Philippines.

"Both decided to leave the Bahay Kalinga (halfway house) in Riyadh after they experienced sexual abuses and ‘indecent proposals’ from a labor official. The two may not be necessarily referring to assistant labor attache Antonio Villafuerte who was [already] tagged by three victims," Monterona said.

He said that the third alleged victim is currently in Kuwait. He said the OFW's friend directly contacted him and asked for assistance.

Monterona said that he has also been receiving feelers from "distressed" women OFWs in Amman, Jordan, who are being asked to pay for plane tickets, which are supposed to be free of charge, by erring Philippine labor and welfare officials.

He said the Jordan OFWs would also like to testify on "the various incidents that some OFW wards at the Filipino Workers Resource Center were allowed to go out at night."

The Blast Oply Policy Center (BOPC) reported on Tuesday that two more former OFWs have surfaced and admitted that they are also victims of sexual abuse in government-run centers in the Middle East.

The BOPC said that they are assisting the two victims, who are set to file charges against labor personnel in the Middle East.

Three other "sex-for-flight" complainants surfaced last week and tagged Riyadh-based assistant labor attaché Antonio Villafuerte, who has been ordered to return to the Philippines to answer the charges.

The five OFWs came out after Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello exposed a supposed sex ring operation by some erring labor officials in the Middle East.

Bello accused Amman-based assistant labor attaché Mario Antonio of letting out at night some OFWs from the shelter in Amman to meet a wealthy Palestinian man in the city.

Bello also accused a certain Kim from Damascus, Syria for allegedly being involved with intimate relationships with at least four distressed OFWs.

He also tagged a Blas Marquez from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Kuwait for being involved in a sex-for-hire business in the Filipino Workers' Resource Center in the country.