Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto G. Romulo commended the Philippine Embassy in Brunei Darussalam for its collaborative efforts with the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and the Brunei Immigration authorities that led to the rescue of two Filipina workers who were victims of human trafficking and forced to become sex workers. The two Filipinas were later repatriated to the Philippines through the efforts of the Embassy.

In her report to the DFA, Philippine Ambassador to Brunei Virginia H. Benavidez said that the official statements issued by the women at the Philippine Embassy in Brunei showed that they were beguiled by a certain Loida Jose with business address in Kamias, Quezon City, to work as waitresses in Brunei. Supposedly these two victims would earn P40,000 each. Instead they discovered upon arrival that they were to work as guest relations officers (GROs) at the Fun Pub and Crossroads Club, which are reputed to be sex dens in Labuan. “By the time we took custody of the two Filipina victims, they have been working as prostitutes for more than a month,” Ambassador Benavidez reported.

Ambassador Benavidez provided shelter for the two women at the Embassy’s Filipino Workers’ Resource Center. She also reported that members of Christian groups in Brunei provided clothes, personal hygiene items and spiritual counseling for them for a period of two weeks. Funds were raised for their repatriation to Manila on 3 September 2004, Ambassador Benavidez said.

In a similar operation last June, Ambassador Benavidez said that the Philippine Embassy in Brunei, in close coordination with the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, rescued four Filipinas who were joined a few days later by four other victims, who were assisted by other Filipinos traveling with them on the boat ride from Labuan to Brunei. “Their recruiters, Jessica Marchan, a.k.a. Wenilyn Lasagas Marchan, and two individuals known only as Eva and Del, had promised the women with non-existent jobs in Brunei and Malaysia,” the Ambassador added.

The Department of Foreign Affairs provided the return fare of those eight victims who were repatriated on 7 July 2004.

The official statements of the ten female victims of human trafficking have been forwarded to the Department of Foreign Affairs for onward transmittal to the Philippine Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force, as part of the DFA’s cooperative efforts to curb illegal recruitment and penalize its perpetrators. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order No.325 creating the Philippine Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force last 9 July 2004. The Task Force is headed by former PNP Captain Reynaldo H. Jaylo.

Ambassador Benavidez reiterated her assurances to the Department that her consular team will continue to actively do their share and “go the extra mile” to help the victims of illegal recruitment and human trafficking . “This is a task that the Philippine Embassy has been relentlessly pursuing for the past several years”, according to Ambassador Benavidez.