Pregnant Philippine women arrested in Cambodia for surrogacy could be prosecuted
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Thirteen pregnant Philippine women accused of illegally acting as surrogate mothers in Cambodia after being recruited online could face prison terms after giving birth, a senior Interior Ministry official said Saturday. Interior Ministry Secretary of State Chou Bun Eng, who leads the country's fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation, said police found 24 foreign women, 20 Philippine and four Vietnamese, when they raided a villa in Kandal province, near the capital of Phnom Penh, on September 23. Thirteen of the Philippine women were found to be pregnant and were charged in court on October 1 under a provision in the law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, she said. The law was updated in 2016 to ban commercial surrogacy after Cambodia became a popular…