Senator Risa Hontiveros was saddened to learn that a Filipino rescued from a cryptocurrency scam syndicate in Myanmar ended up working for a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) scam hub recently raided by authorities.
During the joint hearing by the Senate Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality committee and Migrant Workers committee on Wednesday, Department of Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty shared with senators the incident of a “repeat” human trafficking victim rescued during Tuesday night’s raid at Rivendell Gaming Corp.
The “repeat victim” was among the 464 Filipinos rescued from the scam hub that perpetrated “love scams” and “online investment frauds” in the guise of a POGO operation in Pasay, said Ty, who is also the officer in charge of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).
“It is saddening to know that one rescued victim in Myanmar ended up working for this POGO scam hub in Pasay. The repeat rescue victims will be the new focal point of our investigation,” Ty said.
The raid was conducted by IACAT, Philippine National Police, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, and the National Bureau of Investigation resulting in the rescue of 464 Filipinos and 186 foreign nationals, at the suspected scam hub at Zamora corner Gaitos street in Pasay city.
Reacting to the increase in the number of Filipino human trafficking victims, Ty said the suspects have resorted to recruiting Filipinos as their “customer service representatives” for them to evade harsher penalties when they recruit nationals from abroad.
Hontiveros said she was saddened by this incident of a “repeat victim,” and angered at the “mutation” of the crime of human trafficking in POGO scam hubs.
She maintained that Filipinos caught working in POGO scam hubs should still be considered human trafficking victims, not as accomplices who helped the main perpetrators carry out the scam.
Government should address the root causes of poverty that drive Filipinos into working at scam hubs, she added.
“It is not in my vocabulary, the concept of a ‘willing victim.’ A victim is a victim, no matter how many times he or she is victimized,” Hontiveros said.
“To put an end to human trafficking, let us put the victim in the perspective that a victim is a victim-survivor,” she added.
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