Senate to probe Cambodia surrogacy ring recruitment of Filipinos

By Wilnard Bacelonia, Philippine News Agency

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, emphasized on Friday the urgency of verifying the reports to determine possible amendments on existing laws. (File photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA – A Senate resolution was filed seeking to investigate the reported recruitment of Filipino women as surrogate mothers under an infant-trafficking scheme in Cambodia.

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, emphasized on Friday the urgency of verifying the reports to determine possible amendments on existing laws.

“An investigation is crucial to identify the gaps in current legislation including but not limited to reproductive labor and Republic Act (RA) No. 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, to prevent the proliferation of this new form of human trafficking scheme in the country,” she said in a news release.

RA 10364, as stated in Proposed Resolution No. 1211 filed by Hontiveros, states that “it shall be unlawful for any person, natural or judicial, to recruit a person under the guise of domestic or overseas employment or training, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, or sexual exploitation.”

It also “outlaws any person for providing, adopting or receiving a child for the purpose of exploitation or trading them.”

The Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh confirmed that Cambodian police rescued 20 Filipino women from a baby trafficking ring where they were forced to be surrogate mothers.

Thirteen of them are pregnant and receiving care at a local hospital, while the remaining seven will be repatriated.

The office of Senator Raffy Tulfo already coordinated with Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary for Migration Eduardo Jose de Vega to ensure that proper assistance will be given to the distressed Filipinos.

“Usec. De Vega also assured me that DFA is doing its best to assist them and that the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh will exhaust all means to facilitate their repatriation once cleared by Cambodian authorities,” Tulfo said in a separate statement.