Twelve Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) were sentenced to three months in jail in Malaysia for using fake entry permits to go to Laos.
They were arrested in February 2025 and received their sentence from the Malaysian government on May 20, 2025. Since the jail time is only three months, they might be released in June.
With help from the Philippine Embassy and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), their sentence was reduced to three months.
The OFWs were recruited through the messaging app Telegram. The recruiters gave them fake permits to enter Laos.
According to the DMW, the victims were promised jobs as call center agents with a salary of PHP 50,000 per month.
The OFWs traveled from the Philippines to Sabah, Malaysia using an illegal route. They were caught at the Malaysia-Thailand border in February 2025.
