‘Beaten with PVC pipes and trapped in Myanmar’

First of 2 parts MY two visits to Thailand from December 2022 to April 2023 yielded several exclusive interviews with some Filipinos who are helping rescue our fellow Filipinos now trapped in cybercurrency companies run by Chinese syndicates in Myanmar. These syndicates advertise lucrative jobs in call centers in Thailand. The recruitment call is posted on Facebook, with offers of P60,000 a month, plus free job processing, airfare, food, accommodations and other perks. The Filipinos then fly to Bangkok on tourist visas, are whisked aboard unmarked vans for the 12-hour travel to northern Thailand, and then surreptitiously made to cross…