The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will provide temporary shelter to 13 Filipinas who were convicted in Cambodia for engaging in surrogacy, which is illegal in the Southeast Asian country.

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian has directed the agency’s Field Office-National Capital Region to assist the 13 women and three of their babies under the Recovery and Reintegration Program for Trafficked Persons (RRPTP). The women arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Sunday via Philippine Airlines, accompanied by a Cambodian doctor and a Filipino nurse.

“The DSWD, as the Co-Chairperson of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), treats the 13 surrogate mothers as victims of trafficking and will provide all necessary assistance, including transportation and temporary shelter in one of the Department’s centers and residential care facilities (CRCFs),” Gatchalian said.

Atty. Elaine Fallarcuna, Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and IACAT representative, informed Gatchalian that a CRCF is being prepared to accommodate the mothers and babies.

“While the mothers are in temporary shelter, the DSWD will facilitate communication with their families for reintegration. The families will also be assessed for necessary services and interventions,” Fallarcuna said.

Fallarcuna added that two passenger vans from the DSWD’s FO-NCR and Central Office are ready to transport the women and their babies to the CRCF in Metro Manila.

“Transportation assistance back to their respective cities and provinces will also be provided, along with other interventions, including counseling services,” she said.

The 13 Filipinas were part of a group of 24 foreign women detained by Cambodian authorities in Kandal province in September, charged with attempted cross-border human trafficking. The Cambodian court had stated the women intended to "have babies to sell to a third person in exchange for money," a charge of human trafficking.

The women were sentenced to four years in prison but were later granted a Royal pardon following a request from the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh, supported by the Royal Government of Cambodia.

The Philippine government considers the Filipinas as victims of trafficking in the surrogacy scheme. Surrogacy is neither prohibited nor permitted by law in the Philippines, creating a legal gray area prone to exploitation.