MANILA, Philippines -- Eight Filipino women who were promised decent and good paying jobs in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah but ended up as sex slaves arrived in Manila Thursday night, eight days after escaping from a prostitution den.
The women, aged 17 to 24, who arrived in Manila via a connecting flight through Cebu City at around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, broke into tears upon seeing the woman who helped arrange their flight home, Dory Villanueva, wife of Evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva.
“Maraming salamat ma’am ... Maraming salamat ma’am [Thank you very much ma’am... Thank you very much ma’am],” the women said in broken and muffled voices as they hugged Villanueva’s wife.
Their return was considered nothing short of a miracle by leaders of the Jesus Is Lord (JIL) Movement, which provided the women shelter in the Malaysian city for eight days after their escape.
“This should serve as an eye opener for our government. So many women fall victims to trafficking. We hope the government directs the embassies to protect the rights of our women,” Villanueva said.
JIL Pastor James, who declined to divulge his surname, said the women were recruited along with dozens of others by a Filipino with ties to a big-time trafficking syndicate in Malaysia. They were promised a salary of P6,500 a day for jobs in karaoke bars and restaurants.
JIL leaders are working with the police to track down the recruitment agency and stop the trafficking of women for sex trade in Malaysia.
The same agency is believed to be shipping at least 100 more Filipino women to Malaysia before Christmas, said the pastor.
“When they got there, they were sold three times,” the pastor told reporters at the airport. “They were locked up and were made to have sex with four to eight men a day. One of them even got pregnant, but she was forced to have an abortion,” Pastor James said, fuming as he related what the women had told him.
The women were virtually held prisoners in a Kota Kinabalu condominium where they were housed. They were forced every night to have sex with clients against their will.
On December 5, after a chance meeting with a JIL member in the same building where they stayed, the women mustered the courage to flee.
Circumstances of their escape were unclear as they refused to talk to media, but by Pastor James’ account, the women fled the building that same night.
“They jumped from the first floor [elevated level] of the condominium and ran to cars that JIL members [in Kota Kinabalu] sent to fetch them,” the pastor said.
The women were brought to the JIL outreach church in Kota Kinabalu, their sanctuary while gangs tried to track them down, said Pastor James. To ensure their safety, the church was kept locked.
JIL eventually contacted the Philippine embassy through Pedro Chan, the Philippine Consul General in Italy, who told Philippine officials in Malaysia about the women’s plight. Sought out by Villanueva, Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn also got in touch with the Kota Kinabalu mayor to help out.
After a few days, Pastor James finished arranging for their travel documents since the women’s passports were seized by the syndicate.
Hagedorn paid for their flight from Kota Kinabalu to Cebu City. JIL then shouldered their fare to Manila. - Tarra Quismundo, Inquirer, December 14, 2007
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