New Law Strengthens Anti-Mail Order Bride Efforts in PH I t was Regine’s first time to ride a bus bound for Manila. “A friend of my neighbor accompanied me so that I could be introduced to a man willing to help pay for my tuition”, she shared. In a small and cramped condominium unit in Pasay City, Regine was among a sea of young girls being screened by a group of old foreign men. At 19 years old, she was sold as a young bride for more than half a million pesos. Jane, a single mother and factory worker, was escorted by two women who were going to introduce her to Mr. Chao at a mall in Cubao. “I told Mr. Chao that I had a son,” she recalled. “But he still wanted to push through with the marriage”. The following day, Jane was wedded to Mr. Chao. Frances, 19, was attending a typical “show up” arranged by marriage brokers. “There were dozens of girls. I had no idea that once I would get chosen, I had no choice but to get married”, she said. When her new husband was unable to shoulder the expenses for the processing of their marriage and travel documents, Frances was forced against her will to work for her recruiter as a household help. Regine, Jane and Frances are only a few of the hundreds of Filipino women who fall victim to the Mail Order Bride Scheme, as uncovered by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO). These women, with the motivation to help their families and create a better life for them, often become the target of exploitation by foreign men who purchase them as brides (at times even disregarding their minority). While some of them may have consented to the brokered matchmaking, they also become victims of domestic violence. Considered as a form of human trafficking, the scheme has long since been outlawed in the Philippines, with stringent measures put into place to safeguard our Filipinas from becoming prey to unhappy lives as forced brides. 31 August 2016 Page 1 of 3
Transcript
New Law Strengthens Anti-Mail Order Bride
Efforts in PHI
t was Regine’s first time to ride a bus bound for
Manila. “A friend of my neighbor accompanied me so that I could be introduced to a man willing to help
pay for my tuition”, she shared. In a small and cramped
condominium unit in Pasay City, Regine was among
a sea of young girls being screened by a group of old
foreign men. At 19 years old, she was sold as a young
bride for more than half a million pesos.
Jane, a single mother and factory worker, was escorted
by two women who were going to introduce her to Mr.
Chao at a mall in Cubao. “I told Mr. Chao that I had a son,” she recalled. “But he still wanted to push through with the marriage”. The following day, Jane was wedded
to Mr. Chao.
Frances, 19, was attending a typical “show up” arranged by marriage brokers. “There were dozens of girls. I had no idea that once I would get chosen, I had no choice but to get married”, she said. When her new
husband was unable to shoulder the expenses for the
processing of their marriage and travel documents,
Frances was forced against her will to work for her
recruiter as a household help.
Regine, Jane and Frances are only a few of the
hundreds of Filipino women who fall victim to the Mail
Order Bride Scheme, as uncovered by the Commission
on Filipinos Overseas (CFO).
These women, with the motivation to help their families
and create a better life for them, often become the
target of exploitation by foreign men who purchase
them as brides (at times even disregarding their
minority). While some of them may have consented to
the brokered matchmaking, they also become victims
of domestic violence. Considered as a form of human
trafficking, the scheme has long since been outlawed
in the Philippines, with stringent measures put into
place to safeguard our Filipinas from becoming prey to
unhappy lives as forced brides.
31 August 2016
Page 1 of 3
Republic Act 10906 or An Act Providing Stronger Measures against Unlawful Practices, Businesses, and Schemes of Matching and
Offering Filipinos to Foreign Nationals for Purposes of Marriage or Common Law Partnership widens the
scope of RA 6955 which only covers Filipino women.
The new law mainly prohibits anybody engaging in any
business or profitable schemes that match and/or offer
Filipinos to foreign nationals for purposes of marriage
or common law partnership through mail-order basis,
personal introduction, email or websites in the internet.
Other prohibited acts include exhibiting, printing, or
distributing materials which promote the mail-order
spouse industry; attracting or inducing any Filipino to
join any club or association that matches Filipinos to
foreign nationals for a fee; and using postal service
or websites on the internet in promoting this law’s
prohibited acts.
The salient features of the new law are the inclusion
of Filipino men against acts of matching for purposes
of marriage or common law partnership to foreign
nationals; matching through the use of internet;
confiscation and forfeiture of proceeds and instruments
derived from committing the prohibited acts in favor of
the government; and provision on the formulation of an
implementing rules and regulations.
It also imposes stiffer penalties on its violation. Any
person found guilty of committing or cooperating in the
prohibited acts shall suffer 15 years of imprisonment
and shall pay a fine ranging from Php 500,000 to Php
1 million. If committed by a syndicate or committed
on a larger scale, the offender shall suffer 20 years of
imprisonment and a fine ranging from Php 2 million to
Php 5 million.
To ensure the prevention, protection, and rehabilitation
for victims of mail-order spouse scheme, this law
mandates the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),
the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the
Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), and the
Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) to conduct
programs such as constant monitoring and formulating
A new legislative measure strengthening the Republic
Act 6955 or the Anti- Mail Order Bride Act is enacted into law on July 21, 2016.
Page 2 of 3
of policies pertinent to the scheme, and the mandatory
provision of temporary shelter, free legal assistance,
case management, psychological support, and other
intervention programs for the victims.
Furthermore, CFO is mandated under the new law to
conduct pre-departure counseling services for Filipinos
who have contracted marriages with foreign nationals,
case studies and researches on intermarriage, and
information campaigns against the unlawful acts and
other similar schemes.
As a member of the Inter-Agency Council Against
Trafficking (IACAT), the CFO is tasked to safeguard
Filipinos from schemes which promote human
trafficking, slavery, and other forms of exploitation
especially those in the guise of intermarriages. Thus,
CFO persistently lobbied to the Congress for the
passage of the law. In fact, most of CFO’s proposals for
its then-enrolled bill have been incorporated in the law.
These are: (1) prohibiting of matching both Filipino men
and women for marriage or common-law partnership
to foreign nationals; (2) declaring the operation of the
mail-order spouse industry through the internet as
unlawful; (3) confiscation and forfeiture of proceeds
and instruments from the mail-order spouse industry
in favor of the government; (4) mandatory recovery
and rehabilitation services for the victims; (5) provision
on the formulation of an implementing rules and
regulations, and; stiffer penalties on its violation.
The said law was mainly sponsored by former Senator
Pia Cayetano and Representative Alfred Vargas III.
During her sponsorship speech, Senator Cayetano
pointed out that there is an undeniable existence of
exploitation upon men and women hiding behind the
intermarriage façade. This reality will now be confronted
by the newly passed-law that will protect Filipinos
against abuse, prostitution, and exploitation from
schemes which offer Filipinos marriage to unscrupulous
foreign nationals.
The latest records of the CFO show that there is an
annual average of more than 17,000 marriage migrants
who leave the Philippines for the last three years. They
are mostly bound to United States of America, Japan,
