A young Chinese guy thought he was heading to the Philippines for an office job, only to be shoved straight into a scam compound the moment he touched down. When he refused to scam people, or missed his targets, fists and whips came down hard. But that wasn't even the worst of it. He was resold among different scam syndicates at least six times, with his price tag hitting as high as 2.1 million pesos at one point. If local tuk-tuk drivers heard about that, they'd probably drop their cigarettes in shock.
Another compatriot took a brutal beating for refusing to get into the scam game either. The worst of the thrashings left him so badly hurt that his teeth were literally pulled out. Local media report that violence inside these compounds is just a way of life; once you're behind the high walls and barbed wire, and your passport is confiscated, you're just human cargo to be squeezed and tossed around however they like.
By March of this year, law enforcement finally raided that compound in Bamban, Tarlac, rescuing over 800 people in one go, including more than 400 fellow Chinese. The guy who got resold six times was in there too, and he finally managed to break free and is now under a witness protection program. The dark underbelly of this place ties right back into the case of former mayor Alice Guo, who just got slapped with a life sentence by the court not long ago. Reading the news over an iced coffee on the street, you just have to wonder: how is it that trying to make an honest living can cost you your life?
