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ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/23 October) – The Sea-Based Anti-Trafficking Task Force (SBATTF) here on Monday intercepted and rescued separately four women who are victims of human trafficking.
Chief Insp. Alexander Lorenzo, chief of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC)-Western Mindanao Field Office, said two of the victims were rescued at the airport and the other two at the local port.
Lorenzo said three of them are from Laguna and the fourth one, who is a former overseas Filipino worker (OFW), is from Olongapo.
Lorenzo learned from the victims that they were recruited to work as domestic helpers in Dammam, Saudi Arabia with a monthly Salary of $400.
He said the victims have undergone training in preparation for their employment and had signed contract but were not given a copy.
He said they were given P21,000 fare and were made to travel via the Zamboanga-Malaysia route and will be met by someone in Sandakan that will take them to their destination.
He said no recruiter was arrested when the victims were rescued.
They were taken to the center for displaced persons of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) after they have given statements to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Lorenzo said.
