Travel firms tied to trafficking of Chinese women in the Philippines

Sen Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, talking with two Filipino minors rescued from Chinese prostitution dens.

MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN): Several travel agencies should be held criminally liable for facilitating the visas of Chinese women who have fallen prey to prostitution rings catering to male Chinese workers of Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), according to Sen Risa Hontiveros.

“These travel agencies have abused the visa-upon-arrival policy that the [Bureau of Immigration] launched in 2017, ” Hontiveros said in a radio interview on Sunday.