The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported that a female trafficking victim was deported back to the country last 15 November at the Zamboanga International Seaport after being forced to work illegally without documentation as a club entertainer in Malaysia.

The victim, identified as “Sarah,” departed the country in February 2024, bound for Singapore, posing as a nanny for a family she was traveling with.

However, “Sarah” admitted that she was actually hired by another Filipina to work as a waitress in Malaysia and was instructed to pose as a domestic worker to evade inspection.

The victim claimed that her recruiters demanded a P20,000 payment for travel expenses, creating a debt she owed to her foreign employer.

After arriving in Singapore, she flew to Malaysia, where she was picked up and brought to a dormitory. She was forced to work as a nightclub performer to pay off her recruitment debt.

The victim was reported to Malaysian authorities and subsequently arrested for working without proper documentation due to her inability to pay her employer for release.

BI commissioner Atty. Joel Anthony Viado expressed concern, stressing the importance of Filipinos seeking work abroad to do so legally and through authorized channels.