By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – A senior Department of Justice (DOJ) official on Thursday said the plight of 13 Filipinas convicted for violation of the surrogacy ban in Cambodia should serve as a warning to women who are similarly being enticed with large sums by human traffickers.
At the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing, Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said the reportedly large sums of money being offered to Filipino women by illegal recruiters belie the dire consequences to the victims.
“(K)ung meron pa tayong ibang mga kababayan na natutukso sa ganitong posibilidad na maging surrogate mother para sa malaking halaga, na balita namin umaabot ng mga kalahating milyon ang makukuha nila, dito sana magdalawang isip na kayo. Sana ‘wag n’yo gawin ‘to dahil maaari mangyari sa inyo ang mga nangyari dito sa mga kawawang kababayan natin (If there are still other of our citizens who are tempted by the possibility of being a surrogate mother for a large sum, which we heard can go as high as a half a million pesos, I hope you reconsider. Do not do it because what happened to our poor compatriots may happen to you),” Ty said.
“Pero higit sa lahat ‘wag n’yo kalimutan na may mas biktima pa dito sa sitwasyon na ‘to at ang mga biktima na’to ay ‘yung mga bata na maisisilang sa ganitong illegal surrogacy scam. Kita n’yo naman ‘di ba namomroblema tayo ngayon kung ano ang gagawin natin sa mga batang ‘to once maiuwi natin dito sa Pilipinas (Let us not forget that in this situation the children borne out of this illegal surrogacy scam are victims too. As you can see, we are now having problems on what to do to these children once they are brought home to the Philippines),” he added.
Meanwhile, Ty said authorities have identified an agency which recruited the women based from the information given by the seven victims who were repatriated to the Philippines.
“Mula sa kanilang mga kwento ay may na-identify kaming isang agency, isang recruiter dito sa Pilipinas na tinututukan na natin ngayon na kriminal na imbestigasyon (Based from their stories, we have identified an agency, a recruiter here in the Philippines which we are now focusing as a criminal investigation),” he said. (PNA)
