Rescued Scam Worker Recounts Abuse at Former Philippine Compound
A rescued scam worker, under witness protection, recalls beatings at a Pasay compound now used as a detention center.
A former cyber-scam compound in Pasay, Philippines, has been repurposed as a temporary detention center run by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission. The site now holds individuals linked to illicit operations, but its past as a site of abuse remains vivid for at least one survivor.
A rescued worker, who uses the pseudonym Jade and is now in the Philippines' witness protection program, said he was beaten multiple times while held at the facility. He described a "torture room" where workers were allegedly tied to steel rods and punished if they failed to meet performance expectations.
Photographs from the site show a baton, stick, and handcuffs left in that room, serving as grim evidence of the reported conditions. Jade was photographed looking out a window from the detention center, which now houses those connected to the very schemes that once victimized workers like him.
The transformation of the compound highlights the scale of the illegal scam industry in the region and the ongoing efforts by Philippine authorities to dismantle such networks and support their victims.