210 Filipino Trafficking Victims Returned From Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar

As many as 210 Filipino trafficking victims from various Southeast Asian countries have been brought back to the Philippines.

"So far, we have repatriated 210 of our compatriots from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar who were victims of illegal trafficking," DFA Assistant Minister Paul Cortez said in a televised public briefing on Wednesday.

At the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Indonesia, Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said officials had a common goal to combat human trafficking.

Cortez said dealing with such issues requires a regional approach.

According to the official, authorities found that many Filipinos were given jobs as call center agents in Thailand, but were given jobs in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar as part of a human trafficking program.

Cortez also announced the rescue of 1000 people of different nationalities in the city of Clark in Pampanga province who were allegedly forced to work in online scams.

"So our government and the president said that he is not only a domestic problem, but also a regional problem, and of course we need to solve it through regional means," Cortez said.

It was stated that the mechanisms through which ASEAN could deal with the problem included the ASEAN Convention on Combating Trafficking in Persons and the ASEAN Declaration on Transnational Crime.