Team sent to repatriate 24 OFWs in Cambodia

The Department of Migrant Workers Department (DMW) deployed a team to Cambodia to repatriate 24 Filipinos who were allegedly forced to work in the Southeast Asian country.

DMW officer-in-charge Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the Filipino victims entered Cambodia as tourists as early as January.

“They were hired as tech support representatives but were forced to work in an online scamming facility in the O’Smach District located near the Thai border,” he said.

The DMW team left Monday to assist the Filipino workers and provide them legal and financial assistance as well as psychological first aid.

“They were supposed to be transferred from O’Smach District to another online scamming facility in the coastal city of Sihanoukville when the Cambodian National Police intercepted their convoy,” Cacdac said.

The DMW is now coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh as well as with Cambodia’s Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation to facilitate the repatriation of the Filipinos.