{"id":209671,"date":"2019-04-12T23:19:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-13T03:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=209671"},"modified":"2019-04-12T23:19:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T03:19:25","slug":"2-pinays-stopped-from-flying-to-china-to-become-surrogate-moms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/04\/12\/2-pinays-stopped-from-flying-to-china-to-become-surrogate-moms\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Pinays stopped from flying to China to become surrogate moms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The two women, aged 32 and 28, said they were both former overseas Filipino workers. (PIXABAY PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Immigration officials have stopped two Filipina travelers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from leaving for China where they were recruited to become surrogate mothers.<\/p>\n

In a statement Friday, Bureau of Immigration Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said the victims checked in at a Cebu Pacific flight bound for Hong Kong when they were intercepted by members of the bureau\u2019s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) at the immigration departure area of the NAIA terminal 3.<\/p>\n

The two women, aged 32 and 28, said they were both former overseas Filipino workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey immediately confessed during interview that they were actually bound for China where their services as surrogate mothers were engaged for a fee of PHP300,000,\u201d said Medina in his report to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente. \u201cBoth victims said that their visas will be processed in Hong Kong,\u201d he reported.<\/p>\n

A surrogacy arrangement is usually sought when pregnancy is medically impossible or when pregnancy risks are too dangerous for the intended mother.<\/p>\n

Medina said the women were intercepted after seeing that the arrangement exploits women whose wombs are treated as commodities to meet the reproductive needs of rich people who are unable to bear a child.<\/p>\n

Last year, 32 women were held in Cambodia for being surrogate mothers in an illegal surrogacy ring supplying services for Chinese clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not want the Philippines to be the next hub for this \u2018womb for rent\u2019 business,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt exploits the vulnerability of our women, who, out of poverty and desperation agrees to such arrangements,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

According to BI-TCEU chief Erwin Orta\u00f1ez, the women recounted that they were recruited as surrogate mothers through a website that invites women who are willing to bear a child for others in exchange for a fee.<\/p>\n

The women were later turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and assistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Immigration officials have stopped two Filipina travelers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from leaving for China where …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":209674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-benjamin-pulta","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209671"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209675,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209671\/revisions\/209675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}