3 Filipina minors trafficked to Syria using fake passports

Three underaged Filipino Muslim women were trafficked to Syria using fabricated passports.

During the continuation of the Senate hearing Tuesday, Senator Risa Hontiveros disclosed the testimonies of alias Omaima, Aleah, and Lenlen who were all minors when they were recruited to work in Syria. They were all repatriated to the Philippines in 2020.

In her testimony, Omaima said she was trafficked in 2008 in Sultan Kudarat at the age of 16 by an agent who was asking her to go abroad.

“Ang passport ko po ay baklas po. Binigyan po ako ng passport. Dati po kasi ang passport ay green. Ngayon po ang naging passport ko pinalaki po ang edad ko doon,” Omaima said.

(My passport was fabricated. They have given me a passport where they made me older than my true age.)

On her birth certificate, Omaima’s birthdate was December 15,1991 but in her passport, her birthdate was December 10, 1981.

Aleah from Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao also went through a similar recruitment process in 2008.

Her birthdate on her passport was February 10, 1984 but in her birth certificate, she was born on August 30, 1992.

The latest incident was Lenlen from Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao who was trafficked to Syria in 2018 at the age of 14.

In her birth certificate, she was born on September 7, 2004 but in her passport which she processed in the Department of Foreign Affairs Cotabato, her birthday was August 17, 1994.

The three victims have all experienced maltreatment from their employers in Syria.

“Halimbawa po sinasampal po, pinapalo, kinukurot, tinatampal ng pinanglilinis namin… 'yung mop (I was slapped on the face, spanked, and hit with a mop),” Lenlen, the most recent victim of trafficking, said in her video testimony.

She tried to escape in 2019 but the police gave her back to her employers.

She was eventually rescued by the Philippine Embassy in Damascus but she experienced verbal harassment from an embassy staffer named Jun Carillo, who was then managing their papers.

Lenlen said she brought this up with the embassy officials but her complaint fell on deaf ears.

“As if exploiting our women is not enough, unscrupulous recruiters and human traffickers are also manipulating and abusing our children. This is a disgusting modus that needs to be stopped,” Hontiveros said in her opening statement.

“Pastillas” scheme whistleblower, Immigration officer Allison Chiong said this trafficking modus is part of the outbound pastillas scheme.

Chiong said Immigration officers will not further scrutinize the outbound passengers as long as they are included in the list posted on their Viber threads.

Although they acknowledged the religious practices of muslims, Chiong also pointed out that hijabs are giving an additional layer of camouflage.

“From the viewpoint of Immigration officer, mahirap i-profile ang passsenger kasi nakatakip po ang mga mukha nila. So it adds a layer of camouflage po. Mas madali po silang ma-traffic,” he said.

In March, Chiong testified on some Viber screenshots which displayed the list of names of women to be trafficked out of the country.

He previously testified on the seamless entry of Chinese nationals in exchange of P10,000. This was tagged as “pastillas scam.”—AOL, GMA News