Filipina surrogate bound for Georgia intercepted by BI

A Filipino woman was prevented by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) from traveling to Georgia to become a gestational surrogate mother. 

In a statement on Saturday, the BI said that the 31-year-old woman was supposed to board a flight to Hong Kong on March 30.

During the immigration interview at NAIA Terminal 1, she claimed she was a returning overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who would be employed as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, but further inspection revealed she planned to proceed to Beijing, China, and then to Tbilisi, Georgia.

She added that a female recruiter who reached out via Messenger promised her a P490,000 payout after childbirth and that she possessed a letter from a Georgian-German surrogacy facility where she was supposed to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“Our officers manning the counters are strongly committed to intercepting suspicious departures linked to trafficking schemes,” said BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado. 

The woman has been referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further assistance and case development. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA News