18-3-2024 (MANILA) The Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration recently issued a warning about a new trafficking scheme involving Filipino women being trafficked to China as mail-order brides. Experts suggest that this concerning trend may be connected to Chinese organized crime and trafficking syndicates.
According to the Bureau of Immigration, immigration officers intercepted a 20-year-old Filipino woman and a 34-year-old Chinese man who were posing as a married couple attempting to travel to Shenzhen on February 28. While they provided a genuine Philippine marriage certificate, inconsistencies in their statements raised suspicions among the officers.
Further investigation revealed that the woman had paid a significant sum of money, 45,000 pesos (US$810), to an agent to process the fraudulent marriage certificate. Another incident involved a Filipino woman and a Chinese national who claimed to be married. Although they presented an apparently authentic marriage certificate, a check of the man’s travel records revealed that he was not in the country at the time of the alleged marriage. He later admitted to paying a Chinese agency 40,000 pesos for the fraudulent documents.
So far this year, four such couples have been intercepted, with immigration officials expressing concern over the ability of these individuals to obtain legitimate documents.
Nathalie Africa-Verceles, a professor at the University of the Philippines’ Department of Women and Development Studies, believes that the presence of genuine marriage documents indicates the involvement of organized crime groups in this trafficking scheme. She calls for an investigation into the issuance of these marriage certificates, suggesting that the number of women being trafficked into marriage may be much higher than the intercepted cases suggest.
Limited resources and training pose challenges for law enforcement agencies in identifying trafficking cases, particularly when organized crime syndicates are involved. Ross Tugade, a human rights lawyer and professor of international law at the University of the Philippines, explains that authorities may be better equipped to identify cases of forced labor or obvious sex trafficking but could miss more nuanced scenarios like mail-order bride exploitation. China’s gender imbalance, with an estimated 35 million more men than women, is believed to be driving the demand for mail-order brides.
The Philippines has specific laws in place to combat human trafficking, including the Anti Mail-Order Bride Law of 1990 and its replacement, the Anti Mail-Order Spouse Act of 2016, which prohibit the organization or facilitation of marriages between Filipino women and foreign men through matchmaking services. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, expanded in 2022, provides authorities with greater oversight and enhanced penalties for violations. However, experts argue that the implementation of these laws is crucial for their effectiveness.
Jean Enriquez, executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia-Pacific, suggests a connection between the marriage trafficking scheme and the surge in Chinese investments in Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGO) that peaked under the previous administration. The POGO industry employed around 300,000 Chinese workers in the Philippines, leading to various crimes and controversies. Recent raids on POGO compounds have uncovered potential hubs for love scams and instances of human trafficking.
Enriquez emphasizes the need to hold the buyers of women accountable, as convictions have mostly been limited to third-party traffickers. She calls for addressing the demand side of trafficking and patriarchal policies in China. The Philippines must also focus on creating sustainable local jobs and providing support to vulnerable communities of women and girls.
