2 Filipinas ‘hired’ as surrogates barred from leaving PH
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2019 11:38:01 +0000
TWO Filipinas who were “hired” to be surrogate mothers allegedly in Hongkong were stopped from leaving the country after the Bureau of Immigration discovered that they were actually bound for China.
Grifton Medina, Immigration Port Operations Division chief, said in a statement that the bureau’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) intercepted the alleged victims only known as Ria, 32; and Ellie, 28 who were checked in at a Cebu Pacific flight at the immigration departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.
Medina said the victims who were both former overseas Filipino workers admitted to immigration officers that they agreed with the arrangement to carry the babies of others so that they could support their families.
“They immediately confessed during interview that they were actually bound for China where their services as surrogate mothers were engaged for a fee of P300,000,” Medina said in his report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente.
“Both victims said that their visas will be processed in Hong Kong,” he said.
The women were turned over to the Justice department’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and assistance.
A surrogate mother is a woman who agrees to become pregnant and give birth to a child for another person.
A surrogacy arrangement is usually sought when pregnancy is medically impossible or when pregnancy risks are too dangerous for the intended mother.
Medina said the women were intercepted after seeing that the arrangement exploits women whose wombs were treated as commodities to meet the reproductive needs of rich people who were unable to bear a child.
In a similar case in 2018, the BI said that 32 women were held in Cambodia for being surrogate mothers in an illegal surrogacy ring supplying services to Chinese clients.
“We do not want the Philippines to be the next hub for this ‘womb for rent’ business,” said Medina. “It exploits the vulnerability of our women, who, out of poverty and desperation agrees to such arrangements,” he added. CATHERINE A. MODESTO, BENJIE L. VERGARA
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