MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is now assisting more than 1,000 cyber scam victims rescued by government law enforcers from the Clark Freeport Zone in Mabalacat, Pampanga province on May 4.
Of the 1,090 rescued victims, 171 were Filipinos, 389 Vietnamese, 307 Chinese, 143 Indonesians, 40 Nepalese, 25 Malaysians, seven Burmese, five Thais, two Taiwanese and one from Hong Kong.
The DSWD Field Office (FO) in Central Luzon conducted the assessment to determine the needs of the victims rescued by the elements of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) at the Clark Sun Valley Hub in Mabalacat City.
As co-chair of the IACAT, the DSWD assisted and provided financial aid to the rescued victims of the alleged labor trafficking.
Some 60 Filipinos received PHP5,000 each through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program of the DSWD. The FO is still conducting an assessment of the remaining Filipino victims.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), together with the Department of Health (DOH) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are assisting foreign nationals.
The victims are temporarily billeted at the Tahanan ng Inyong Pag-Asa Center, an IACAT shelter and one-stop-shop for rescued trafficked victims. Some of them are under the custody of the PNP-ACG in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
The PNP-ACG said the victim-survivors are willing to file a formal complaint or to testify against the alleged perpetrators.
The victims also received packed meals on May 5-7 from the DSWD Field Office III, the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office Pampanga and the City Social Welfare and Development Office of Mabalacat City.
As an active member-agency of IACAT, the DSWD will continue to provide comprehensive service to the victim-survivors to assist them in the recovery and reintegration to society. (PNA)
