00:00Thirteen Filipinas have returned home from work in Thailand but were made surrogate mothers in Cambodia.
00:06MAV Gonzalez was there.
00:11Thirteen Filipinas traveled to Cambodia to work.
00:15But when the Filipinas returned earlier, some of them had children.
00:20One of them is a month old.
00:22They were recruited online to become surrogate mothers
00:25or the people who are brought in for the children of others.
00:28According to the Department of Foreign Affairs or DFA,
00:31they were among the 20 Filipinas arrested by the Cambodian authorities in September.
00:36Surrogacy is prohibited in Cambodia where they were brought instead of Thailand that was promised to them.
00:53Seven of them were the first to return to the Philippines
00:56but 13 were left there and were charged.
00:59On December 2, they were convicted for human trafficking.
01:02But on December 26, they were given royal pardon in Cambodia.
01:20The Interagency Council Against Trafficking or IACAT is investigating the Filipino recruits.
01:26For now, this is the only case where many Filipinas were involved in surrogacy.
01:30The women are worried that their recruiter will catch them.
01:35They will remain in a facility of the DSWD.
01:38According to the DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian,
01:41they are considered victims of human trafficking.
01:44They will be given all the assistance including counseling and transportation to their provinces.
01:51For GMA Integrated News,
01:53Ma'am Gonzales, Nakatutok, 24 Horas.
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