Women posing as nuns have tried to abduct Filipino girls for human trafficking.
According to news outlets, human traffickers are trying to take advantage of the desperation after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
One group of traffickers disguised themselves nuns from a foundation and tried to lure girls to Manila.
One of the 14-year-old girls involved – “Lyn” – said a group called “Babalam Kevalam” visited her area on a “relief operation” four months after the typhoon.
“One of the members, who identified herself as a nun, approached us while we were planting in our community garden,” said Lyn.
“She asked the five of us who at that time we are 12-13 years old if we wanted to study in Manila. She offered us scholarships. All of us agreed and immediately ‘Babalam Kevalam’ went to our parents and asked their permission to bring us to Manila.”
Lyn’s family, which was struggling to scratch out a living, agreed to let her go.
The recruiters prohibited the girls from bringing their cellphones, but one of the youngsters smuggled one onto the bus.
“When we were at the New Bus Terminal in Tacloban City, a male passenger asked us where we were going. I told him that we were going to Manila with the nuns in orange at the back of the bus,” Lyn said.
“The man asked more questions and wondered why the nuns were wearing orange. He left the bus and re-appeared with policemen.”
The “nuns” were unable to show a certificate from Department of Social Welfare and Development that they were supposed to have for transporting the girls, so the youngster were taken to the police station and later to a women’s shelter.
After staying there and receiving counselling for about a month and a half, they were reunited with their families.
The 2014 US State Department estimates a significant number of the estimated 10 million Filipino men, women, and children who migrate abroad are subsequently subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour.
Sources