MANILA: Cambodia has pardoned and sent home 13 Philippine people who were jailed over a plan to become surrogate mother, an outlawed process, the Spanish authorities said on Sunday.
They were one of 24 unusual people detained by Thai authorities in September, and on December 2 they were found guilty and given four-year sentences for attempted cross-border people prostitution.
The people” and three of their children” were taken to a government shelter for trafficking victims and sent home early on Sunday, according to a declaration from the social security office.
The Philippine foreign ministry stated in a separate statement that” all 13 ( women ) departed Phnom Penh and arrived safely in Manila following the grant of royal pardon by His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni.
The 13-year-old had the “intention” to have infants to offer to a third person in exchange for money, which is a form of human trafficking, according to the Vietnamese court’s decision.
The 13th grader’s babies were born without any specifics about what would occur to them.
In a statement from the Philippine foreign ministry, it was stated that” surrogacy is prohibited in Cambodia and any infraction thereof is punishable by Cambodian rules.”
There is no law in the Philippines that would prohibit or permit infertility, according to a declaration from the social welfare ministry, creating a legal grey area vulnerable to abuse.
After neighboring Thailand pulled the plug on the business the past year, Cambodia issued a tear restrictions on commercial infertility, abruptly putting an abrupt end to a growing industry for enthusiastic parents, many of whom are from Australia and the United States.
However, since China relaxed its one-child policy and Cambodian agencies continue to offer the service, demand for commercial surrogacy is still high.
Sources in the kingdom have previously told AFP that couples, mostly from China, are willing to pay between$ 40, 000 to$ 100, 000 to surrogacy agents to find a Cambodian woman who can carry their child.
