MANILA – Four trafficked Filipino women have returned to the country after escaping forced sex work in Malaysia, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.

BI officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 received the victims on October 22 after their repatriation from Kuala Lumpur via an AirAsia flight.

Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said the women had been lured into working as entertainers but were later forced into sex work. They escaped their employer and sought help from the Philippine Embassy in Malaysia.

The Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Malaysia, under the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), facilitated their repatriation and provided legal assistance.

Records from the BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) showed that none of the victims had official departure records. The victims disclosed that they left the country by small boat from Tawi-Tawi bound for Malaysia.

Investigations revealed that their passports were stamped with fake Philippine departure marks in Malaysia before they traveled by land to Labuan, where they worked for two weeks in a KTV bar. They were later brought to Johor Bahru and exploited in a VIP spa area.

“This is the grim reality for improperly documented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) — they are shuffled around and compelled to endure exploitative working conditions,” Viado said.

A forensic examination by the BI confirmed that the passports contained counterfeit departure stamps.

“We thank the swift and decisive efforts of the MWO in Malaysia, under the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), in assisting the repatriation process,” Viado added.

The BI said the recruiters responsible have been reported to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and referred to the National Bureau of Investigation–International Airport Investigation Division (NBI-IAID) for further investigation.