Thirteen pregnant Philippine women have been accused of illegally acting as surrogate mothers in Cambodia after being recruited online and may face prison terms after they give birth.
Interior Ministry Secretary of State Chou Bun Eng, said police found 24 foreign women, 20 Philippine and four Vietnamese, when they raided a villa in Kandal province, near the capital of Phnom Penh, on Sept. 23.
Thirteen of the Philippine women were found to be pregnant and were charged in court on Oct. 1 under a provision in the law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation.
The law was updated in 2016 to ban commercial surrogacy after Cambodia became a popular destination for foreigners seeking women to give birth to their children.
Chou Bun Eng said the 13 pregnant women have been placed under care at a hospital in Phnom Penh and can be prosecuted on charges that could land them in prison for two to five years, after they give birth.
She said that Cambodia does not consider the women to have been victimized but rather offenders who conspired with the organizers to act as surrogates and then sell the babies for money.
The Philippine Embassy in Cambodia said, “The Philippine Embassy ensured that all 20 Filipinos were interviewed in the presence of an Embassy representative and an interpreter in every step of the investigation process.”
