ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 2, 2012) – Philippine authorities have rescued 21 Filipinos in the southern province of Tawi-Tawi who were recruited in various parts of the country to work illegally in Malaysia, officials said Thursday.
Officials said a policeman and his wife, who are allegedly involved in human trafficking, were also arrested by authorities and are being investigated in Zamboanga City.
The rescue of over a dozen potential victims of human trafficking came as police and military intensified the government’s campaign in the southern Philippines.
“We have turned over those 21 people rescued in Tawi-Tawi to the Department of Social Welfare and Development and are assisting the agency in the investigation of this case. A policeman and his wife were also arrested after being implicated in the case and probably other cases of human trafficking too,” Senior Superintendent Rodelio Jocson, the provincial police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said the victims were rescued in different parts of Tawi-Tawi in separate operations on Wednesday. The victims were mostly from the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato, Sulu in Mindanao; and as some far as Pangasinan, Bulacan and Pampanga in Luzon Island.
Since early this year, Jocson said they have rescued some 400 victims of human trafficking in Tawi-Tawi province. “Many of them were recruited by syndicates in various parts of the country and had been promised with non-existent jobs in Sabah in Malaysia,” he said.
Many of those recruited by syndicates had used Zamboanga City as their point of entry to Tawi-Tawi province, just 5 hours by boat to Sabah. (Mindanao Examiner)
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