Philippines Investigates Prostitution Ring Charges MANILA - The Philippine government is investigating allegations that its diplomatic personnel have trafficked Filipino women in the Middle East who were seeking refuge, the foreign secretary said Monday. Philippine diplomatic and labor officials are alleged to have forced distressed Filipino women, in countries like Kuwait and Jordan, into prostitution in return for safe passage back to the Philippines. "There are allegations that this has become institutionalized in terms of the establishment of sex rings and so forth," the Philippine secretary of foreign affairs, Albert del Rosario, said at a Monday news conference. "Investigations are being conducted to ascertain the validity of these allegations," he said. The investigation by Mr. del Rosario's department has involved the recalling of 13 heads of diplomatic missions throughout the Middle East, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. The ambassadors were not implicated in the allegations but were called upon to provide information, he said. The investigation also found three victims who alleged that they were victimized by Filipino diplomatic or labor officials, Mr. del Rosario said. One suspect has been identified and recalled to the Philippines. According to government figures, more than 10.4 million Filipinos live and work overseas, taking jobs ranging from low-skill domestic work in the Middle East and Hong Kong to jobs as emergency-room nurses in Canada and Europe. Most Filipinos who go overseas for work are sent to Middle Eastern countries, often laboring in difficult and dangerous conditions in order to send money to their families in the Philippines. A Philippine congressman, Walden Bello, opened an inquiry into the allegations of abuse in early June after receiving information about officials extorting sex in exchange for flights home. "Our initial investigation into sex for flights revealed something bigger," Mr. Bello said Monday by telephone. They were running a prostitution ring out of Philippine embassies in Kuwait and Oman. The information was shocking. Mr. Bello's investigation alleged that a Filipino diplomat in Damascus had sex with five distressed Filipino female workers seeking shelter in the embassy, in separate incidents. The congressman also reported that a senior Filipino labor official in Jordan was prostituting Filipino women for $1,000 per night. The investigation found another labor official in Kuwait who is accused of running a similar operation using Filipino workers seeking shelter. "These criminals parading as officials must be stripped of their positions, recalled to the Philippines and prosecuted," Mr. Bello said during a June 18 press conference. According to the Trafficking in Persons Report 2013, compiled by the United States, the Philippines is ranked as a Tier 2 country, meaning that it does not fully comply with anti-trafficking standards but is making significant efforts to do so. The report credited the Philippine government with working to increase protections of its overseas workers. "It undertook notable efforts to prevent the trafficking of overseas workers and to protect Filipino victims exploited abroad," the report states. The report goes on to state that the Philippine government in 2013 provided assistance to 1,029 Filipino victims of trafficking and illegal recruitment, and established 15 new worker resource centers in countries with large numbers of Filipino workers. It also deployed diplomatic personnel and social workers overseas to provide assistance to distressed workers. "Services to victims identified overseas included plane tickets, shipment of personal items, temporary shelter, counseling and medical assistance," the report stated. Mr. del Rosario said that a hot line had been established for other victims to come forward and that it was producing additional information, he said. "We will be able to punish the guilty, and we also will be able to review all the policies and procedures governing our conduct pertaining to cases such as this," he said Monday.