Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday thanked Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni for granting a royal pardon last year to 13 Filipino women who were convicted of illegally serving as surrogate mothers in the Southeast Asian kingdom.
Marcos expressed his gratitude in a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, who was visiting Manila for talks on expanding trade, agricultural, tourism, cultural and security relations.
The Philippines and Cambodia belong to the 10-nation ASEAN, a regional bloc that promotes economic integration but is divided on other issues, including countries whose security alignments is with the US or China.
Photo: AFP
Marcos has strengthened his country’s treaty alliance with the US to boost the Philippines’ external defense as it confronts China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea. Cambodia has long been known as a key backer of China in the region.
The 13 Filipino women were convicted in December last year in Cambodia on human trafficking-related charges for acting as surrogates for a criminal syndicate selling babies to foreigners for cash.
The women, who were in various stages of pregnancy, were each sentenced to four years in prison by a Cambodian court, but they avoided imprisonment and were instead flown back to the Philippines under a royal pardon granted by Sihamoni.
“We will never forget this act of magnanimity from His Majesty, a testament to the strong relations between our two countries,” Marcos said before a closed-door meeting with the Cambodian prime minister and his delegation in Manila.
“We will continue to stand with you in the fight against transnational crimes and their adverse effects on our peoples and on our communities,” Marcos said.
The Filipino women were charged for contravening a Cambodian law against human trafficking and sexual exploitation which was updated in 2016 to ban commercial surrogacy. Cambodia has become a popular destination for foreigners seeking women to give birth to their children.
It has a bad reputation for human trafficking, especially in connection with online scams in which illegally recruited foreigners work under conditions of virtual slavery and help perpetrate online criminal fraud that victimize citizens in other countries.
Several agreements were signed after Hun Manet’s meeting with Marcos, mostly aimed at boosting trade, investment, tourism and agricultural engagements. One agreement aims to prevent looting and illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts.
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