Panayam kay DOJ Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking Usec. Nicholas Felix Ty

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Transcript

00:00Let's go back to DOJ Undersecretary Nicolás Felix T.

00:04Usec T., good afternoon.

00:06Good afternoon to you too, good afternoon to you too, Ms. Cueng.

00:09And for our countrymen to understand better,

00:13what are the specific reports that you receive

00:16regarding the surrogacy exploitation of our countrymen in the Philippines?

00:21And when did this start?

00:23Our biggest issue right now is our 20 countrymen,

00:2720 Filipinas who are in Cambodia right now,

00:347 of them are about to be sent home

00:38because they are not pregnant.

00:42There are 13 of them who will be left in Cambodia for a long time

00:47while they are being monitored for their health and the health of the children they are bringing.

00:52Aside from that, I know that surrogacy is a crime in Cambodia.

01:00That's why there are many criminal cases.

01:03But our DFA, our embassy in Cambodia,

01:08is talking to the government of Cambodia

01:11that if possible, this will not happen.

01:14Usec, what is the classification of DOJ in the exploitation of Filipinas

01:18who enter the surrogate arrangements here in the Philippines?

01:21And what is our law regarding this?

01:24For us here in the DOJ,

01:26surrogacy here is a type of human trafficking.

01:30But it is not expressed, it is not clear in our law.

01:34The words surrogacy are not used in our law.

01:38The languages are wide,

01:41the language of our Trafficking in Persons Law is wide

01:44to include these types of modus operandi.

01:47This can be included in illegal adoption

01:50because that is the purpose of surrogacy

01:52which is to give the child to other parents.

01:55Or we can also argue that this is a type of organ trafficking.

01:58But it is clear that within the framework of the Human Trafficking Law,

02:03for us, this is against our Human Trafficking Law.

02:07So now, what is the legal protection that exists here in the Philippines

02:13for our fellow Filipinos who are involved in surrogacy arrangements?

02:19Well, we continue to monitor this.

02:22You asked earlier how long we have been monitoring this.

02:26I think it's only since 2021 that we have seen,

02:29that we have saved Filipinas

02:31who are willing to go out of our airports

02:34to become surrogate mothers in other countries.

02:36Last year, we saved one.

02:39Last year, we saved one.

02:40The news was that he was paid half a million or one million pesos

02:44to become a surrogate.

02:45And the people who tried to traffic him are currently facing charges.

02:50And just one day ago, last Friday,

02:53we saved two Filipinas at the airport.

02:57And their trafficker, the man they were with,

03:00faced in-course proceedings here at DOJ.

03:04Do we consider the Filipinos who are involved here as victims or accused

03:08and can we say that a prostitution is a type of exploitation, sir?

03:13For us, they are victims of human trafficking.

03:16And because they are victims of human trafficking,

03:18they can receive from the government

03:20the benefits that are given to human trafficking,

03:23including psychosocial support,

03:25assistance,

03:27efforts to reintegrate them into society

03:30and give them a better life.

03:32And most importantly,

03:34non-criminality is also included.

03:36So if they are committing a crime,

03:39as a trafficking victim,

03:42they should not be held accountable for this crime.

03:44And what we will fight for in Cambodia

03:47is that since we are considering them as human trafficking victims,

03:51we hope that this principle,

03:52the non-punishment or non-criminality principle,

03:55will be applied by Cambodia to them.

03:58Okay.

03:59In your investigation,

04:00in which country do our countrymen often get involved

04:04in this type of surrogacy arrangements?

04:07According to the reports of the BI,

04:09of the IOs in the BI,

04:11the country that they will go to

04:14whenever they are intercepted is usually Thailand.

04:17Usually, they will look for visa-free countries to go to

04:21and after that,

04:22they will move to the country where the surrogacy happens.

04:25And here, in the case of Benting, the Philippines,

04:28they moved to Cambodia,

04:29which is closer to Thailand.

04:32So, sir, how can we be helped by the foreign government

04:36and international organizations

04:38to fight trafficking and surrogacy exploitation?

04:42First of all, awareness.

04:43I hope that the Filipinos will be more aware

04:46about this modus operandi.

04:49They should know that

04:50even if they are intercepted by a large group of Filipinos,

04:53at least half a million pesos,

04:55they will think that this is a victim.

04:58The other Filipinos there

05:00do not know that they are being intercepted.

05:02They are told that they will be given a job in another country.

05:05And when they get there,

05:06they get their passports

05:08and they are being intercepted in this modus operandi.

05:11So, first of all, we should be aware of this.

05:13Second, I hope that we can find

05:16the principle of non-criminality.

05:19I hope that we can convince our neighbors

05:23that this is a victim

05:25of our fellow Filipinos

05:27and that they should not face criminal charges.

05:31So, what assistance can the DOJ provide

05:34to the victims of trafficking and surrogacy-related exploitation?

05:39And where can these victims go

05:42to ask for help?

05:45The victims that we are rescuing at the airport,

05:48they agreed to give salisay.

05:51And because of that,

05:52we were able to file another case

05:53against their traffickers.

05:55These two Filipinos that were rescued in Cambodia,

05:59we hope that when they go home,

06:01they will also help the government

06:03with the investigation

06:05so that we can have a clue

06:07as to who their recruiter is here in the Philippines

06:09and who their recruiter is.

06:13In other news,

06:15we have a question from our media partner,

06:17Salima Refran of GMA News.

06:20There is a new witness

06:22who was assigned to Dismissed Mayor Alice Guo

06:26by the late Godfather,

06:28Lin Sun Han, or Boss Boga.

06:31What is the impact of this on the investigation

06:33and on the cases against them?

06:36It will be heavier.

06:37There will be more evidence against Alice Guo

06:39and her colleagues.

06:41But for us,

06:42the heavy evidence,

06:44and this new witness,

06:49will add to the strength of our investigation

06:53against Alice Guo.

06:55Next question from Salima Refran.

06:58Boss Boga's people in Lucky South 99

07:01know Mayor Guo as Madam Hua.

07:04Madam Hua or Hua.

07:06Does the name Madam Hua

07:08appear in your investigation

07:10or in the world of POGO?

07:12What is the role of Madam Hua?

07:16Madam Hua's name is included

07:18in the various names and alias

07:20that appear in our investigations.

07:23As far as I remember,

07:25it appears in the investigation of Banban POGO.

07:28For us, that's enough.

07:30Even if it doesn't appear in other POGOs,

07:32it's enough for Madam Hua

07:34and Alice Guo to cross over to Banban POGO

07:36for the cases against her.

07:39Another question from Salima Refran of GMA News.

07:42This is a new witness.

07:44What else does she know

07:46about the status of POGOs

07:48and the crimes committed here?

07:50How important is her testimony?

07:52Will she also be included

07:54in the Witness Protection Program?

07:57The Witness Protection Program,

07:59she may be included.

08:01That depends on the law enforcement

08:03and the prosecutors

08:05who are interviewing her.

08:07Her importance in the case,

08:09as I said earlier,

08:11this is just additional evidence.

08:13For us,

08:15the evidence against Alice Guo

08:17is already strong enough.

08:19But if there's a new evidence,

08:21we will not deny it.

08:23We will just accept it

08:25and use it in the cases we are investigating.

08:28This is a question from Adrian Ayali

08:30of ABS-CBN News.

08:32There's an update on Parakale.

08:34Is the inquiry still ongoing?

08:36What specifically are the immigration violations

08:38of Chinese workers?

08:40Is there an answer from the BI

08:42regarding the violations of Chinese workers?

08:46The inquiry that I mentioned earlier

08:48is the one in Surugacino,

08:50where we intercepted

08:52two Filipinas

08:54and one of their colleagues.

08:56The inquiry that happened last Friday.

08:58I'm not sure

09:00if there are other inquiries

09:02that are taking place right now.

09:04But regarding the immigration inquiries,

09:06it's still ongoing.

09:08Most of the Chinese foreign nationals

09:10go through the immigration inquiries

09:12so that we can have a basis

09:14to arrest them

09:16while we are waiting for their deportation.

09:18Okay. The next question

09:20is from Adrian Ayali.

09:22Are there other similar

09:24operations like this

09:26or are they just isolated

09:28in Parakale?

09:30The operations that we are seeing

09:32right now,

09:34it turns out that there's not much

09:36of Porak and Ban-Ban.

09:38If we follow the news,

09:40there are a lot of operations

09:42that are being raided

09:44by our foreign nationals

09:46but on a smaller scale.

09:48It doesn't reach the military.

09:50It's not a compound

09:52where there are a lot of houses

09:54and where the workers live.

09:56Usually,

09:58it's just a few floors

10:00in one house.

10:02We think that's how it is.

10:04That's how we will find

10:06these illegal operations.

10:08We know that.

10:10We also pivoted

10:12and changed our discard

10:14so that these operations

10:16can happen.

10:18The next question is from Adrian Ayali

10:20of ABS-CBN News.

10:22By any chance,

10:24are there any similarities

10:26to these illegal operations

10:28or to these syndicates?

10:30It looks like

10:32the syndicates

10:34are in the surrogacy.

10:36For now,

10:38we haven't seen any similarities

10:40to the surrogacy and POGO.

10:42But when it comes to the POGO

10:44that we operate,

10:46sometimes it's big, sometimes it's small.

10:48We think that there are

10:50loose connections.

10:52If they don't have the same or similar

10:54or overlapping assets,

10:56it's related to the industry

10:58that talks about it.

11:00We know that before,

11:02in human trafficking,

11:04if a POGO doesn't want to work anymore,

11:06they sell to other POGOs.

11:08So it's clear

11:10that there's a network,

11:12a loose or informal network

11:14of these POGOs.

11:16Okay. Thank you very much

11:18for your time.

11:20Department of Justice Undersecretary

11:22Nicolas Felix T,

11:24you're second in charge of the Interagency Council

11:26Against Trafficking.

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