MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) assured on Friday that it is making every effort to secure a royal pardon from Cambodia’s king for 13 pregnant Filipinas imprisoned for their involvement in illegal surrogacy.
The DFA said it is employing a “whole-of-government approach” to facilitate the process and continues to work closely with Cambodian authorities through the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh.
“In response to reports about the anticipated return of the 13 surrogate women from Cambodia, the DFA wishes to affirm that we continue to do all we can to make this possible,” the agency said.
The Filipinas were among 24 foreign women arrested in Cambodia’s Kandal province in September and charged with attempted cross-border human trafficking.
The Kandal court alleged they intended to sell the babies to third parties for financial gain, sentencing them to four years in prison.
The Philippine government maintains that the Filipinas are victims of human trafficking, highlighting the legal gray area around surrogacy in the Philippines, where no specific laws regulate the practice.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) recently stopped two women from leaving the Philippines after discovering they had been recruited as surrogate mothers in Georgia, Europe.
Senator Risa Hontiveros has called for a Senate investigation into the alleged surrogacy schemes victimizing Filipinas.