ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 20, 2012) – Malaysian authorities have rescued 4 Filipino women who were victims of human trafficking and forced to worked in a night club in Johor Baru near the Singaporean border, Philippine officials said Friday.
The women were rescued Wednesday by the members of the Criminal Investigation Division/Anti-Human Trafficking Section of the Royal Malaysia Police, according to a report by the Philippine Embassy.
The victims were allegedly recruited and escorted by a certain Ramil Garcia from Manila to Zamboanga and then Sandakan in Sabah, with the promise of high-paying jobs in Malaysia. Upon arrival in Sandakan, Garcia handed them over to a certain Norminda Buko Whigan for “sale” to night club owners as customer service workers. The four women were also told of their real work only upon their arrival in Sandakan.
After a two-week stay in Sandakan and no offers from club owners there, the four Filipinas were then transported by plane to Johor Bahru in West Malaysia on March 29 and offered to a club owner Emy Wong.
Wong locked up at the women – ages 27 to 36 – in her house and made to work at the club during the day. But the four eventually were able to ask for help from the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and others, which alerted the Philippine Embassy.
In the evening of April 18, Malaysian CID agents, accompanied by two Embassy officials, raided the club, but Wong and the women had left the club before the police arrived.
Policemen then proceeded to Wong’s residence and recovered the women and arrested Wong’s husband. The club owner is still being hunted by the police.
“We appreciate the swift action of the Malaysian police in rescuing our nationals. This is proof of the commitment and partnership of our two countries against human trafficking. Coming right after the conviction of Alfred Lim, this latest rescue is another clear indicator of the commitment and partnership of our two countries against human trafficking,” Filipino Ambassador to Malaysia Jose Eduardo Malaya said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Malaya was referring to a Singaporean national who was convicted last month by the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur for two counts of human trafficking, and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment for each count for victimizing two Filipino women – who fled his placement agency and filed criminal charges against him in July 2009, after enduring prolonged periods of abuse and maltreatment.
Malaya also warned Filipinos not to sneak Malaysia without proper travel documents.
“Our Filipinos should already beware anytime they are made to exit through the back door in the Tawi-Tawi area without proper documentations. In most likelihood, they are being trafficked already,” he said.
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