The Philippine government is continuing efforts to seek pardon from the King of Cambodia for 13 pregnant Filipinas jailed in the Southeast Asian country for illegally acting as surrogate mothers.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday said it was doing “all we can” to seek pardon and added that efforts were underway to “make this possible.”
“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. This is a whole-of-government approach and many agencies are involved in the effort,” the DFA, quoted by ABS-CBN News, said.
The DFA said the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh “continues to coordinate with Cambodian authorities on the matter.”
The 13 Filipinas were among the 24 foreign women caught by Cambodian police in Kandal province in September and charged with attempted cross-border human trafficking, according to a statement from the Kandal court.
The court had said it had strong evidence showing that the 13 “have the intention… to have babies to sell to a third person in exchange for money, which is an act of human trafficking”. They were sentenced to four years in jail in Cambodia.
The Philippine government earlier said that the Filipinas involved in a surrogacy scheme in Cambodia were trafficking victims.
There is no law prohibiting or allowing surrogacy in the Philippines, providing a legal gray area prone to abuse.
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) prevented 2 Filipinas from leaving the country after they discovered that they were recruited as “surrogate mothers” in Georgia in Europe.
