In the Golden Triangle, a Filipino was told ‘you will die here’

You cannot go home, you will die here,” are words that Marie, not her real name, still remembers from the time she spent at a scam hub in an undisclosed area in Myanmar. She was trafficked to the Southeast Asian country from which she eventually escaped — but not after she suffered through nine days of torture.

Marie was offered an encoder job in Thailand, which promised a P60,000 (US$1,000) monthly salary. She trusted the go-between, a Filipino, which is why she jumped on a plane from Manila to Bangkok in late 2022. From Bangkok, she was accompanied by someone, whom Marie says was a Chinese boss, to hop on another plane. The second destination was a border province in Thailand, where she could see the river. On the other side was Myanmar.

Marie had unknowingly entered the golden triangle, a cross-border zone covering Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and a little bit of the Yunnan province in China, an area which literally makes up a triangle.

She was taken to a house in the Thai border where, after waiting, she was asked to exit from a window. “‘Dun na ko kinabahan (That’s where I got really nervous),” Marie told Rappler. She crossed the river using a giant wheel with ropes being pulled from the Myanmar side.

“Dalawa ang nagtatawid sa akin. Tapos meron pa pong dalawa doon sa kabilang ilog. Yung dito po sa side ko, doon ko na napansin na mayroon siyang baril. Kaya, ano, wala na, hindi ka na mag-iisip na ano eh. Kasi maiisip mo baka mamaya ilubog na lang ako dito. O kaya, tirahin na lang ako dito, wala na, wala na magagawa,” Marie said.

(Two people accompanied me crossing the river. There were two others waiting on the other side. On my side, I noticed one of them carrying a gun. So, I could no longer think of anything. I thought that they could just drown me, or shoot me, I was helpless.)

What Marie remembers is that after eight months, she had escaped to Mae Sot, a Thai province that’s loosely part of the Golden Triangle.

The Golden Triangle

Historically, the Golden Triangle is where most of the world’s narcotics come from. It has long been monitored by the world’s most powerful law enforcement agents for being a crime fortress. This is where the drug trade supposedly thrives and, in recent years, where casino syndicates set up scam hubs mostly involving cryptocurrency.

Dismissed Bamban, Mayor Alice Guo is supposedly trying to sneak in here, said the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), after she successfully left the country in July despite an immigration lookout and a Senate warrant of arrest.

Within the area is the more clearly-demarcated Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ) which covers only Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, not China. As with all economic zones, the GTSEZ is loosely regulated. The supposed head of the economic zone is the Chinese business tycoon Zhao Wei, who had been subjected to several Western government sanctions, but who largely remains untouched.

The bordering countries lease property from Zhao Wei to operate in the GTSEZ. It is a fortress, with its own security, and access by law enforcement is “limited,” said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

“We are confident that [Alice Guo] is trying to get into the Golden Triangle,” PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said during a press conference on Saturday, August 24. “Medyo mahihirapan tayo [hulihin siya doon], may giyera doon eh (We will have a hard time catching her there, there’s war there).” There is an ongoing civil war in Myanmar.

Guo is believed to have entered Batam, Indonesia on August 18. Guo left the Philippines on July 18, according to authorities, and flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, flew again to Singapore, and then reached Batam by ferry boat.

‘You will die here’

In the GTSEZ, the online casino platforms are under-regulated, and “misused extensively to co-mingle and disguise proceeds of crime as legitimate online gambling profits,” according to the UNODC.

Marie was brought to a scam hub in Myanmar, the name of the company is being withheld upon her request, citing security reasons. There, Marie was given a script on how to lure rich people in the guise of online dating. The ultimate goal was to convince their online boyfriends/girlfriends to invest in cryptocurrency. Many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have fallen for this trafficking scheme.

This is also how scam hubs operated in the Philippines, according to PAOCC, which had raided the biggest hubs masquerading as Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs). In some Philippine scam hubs, models whose only job is to pose for photos sent to victims being lured, and to appear in video calls when the victims request them, are hired.

In Marie’s scam hub, where she spent eight months, she said they stole identities from rich-looking people on Instagram, and applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) to use the same faces and sync voices when it’s time for video calls. When these fail — sometimes due to lags caused by weak internet connections, or when the potential victim spots the mouth not synched with a voice — the workers are tortured.

Marie said she deliberately made sure her victims didn’t invest, landing her on the hit list of her bosses. “Ayoko siyang gawin. So, lagi akong sinisigawan. Laging pinapagalitan. Hindi rin ako nagko-convince. Tapos may style pa ako na pag alam kong super yaman, dini-delete ko,” said Marie.

(I did not want to do it. They always shouted at me. They always scolded me. I don’t convince. I also had a style wherein if I knew that the victim is very rich, I delete.)

On her eighth month, after she suffered from severe hemorrhoids, Marie and others planned an escape. But after messaging a supposed cop, the plan was bungled, and they were detained and handcuffed in a room where they were beaten and starved. This indicates possible collusion with authorities in the zone.

On the third day of detention, Marie was hit in the face with a metal tube. She was told that if she pays $7,000, she can go home. “May nagbigay nung una. ‘Yung mga kasama ko. Ako wala talaga,” Marie said. (Some of my companions gave money at first. I really had nothing.)

In the following days, their wrists were shackled to the upper bunk which meant that they stood throughout the night.

“Nagsusuka na ako nun eh. ‘Yung isa kong kasama, napalo siya isang beses lang, kinumbulsiyon na siya eh. Tapos ‘yung pagka-9 day, pagka-gabi, binigyan kami ng taning, [na] kailangan mabigay na ‘tong pera na ‘to. Eh ako, wala naman akong, walang mabigay ‘yung pamilya ko,” said Marie.

(I was already throwing up then. One of my companions was hit only once, but she immediately had convulsions. On the ninth day, that night, we were given a deadline to give the money. But I couldn’t give anything, my family also couldn’t.)

“Nagmamakaawa na ako na ganun. Kasi iba ‘yung pakiramdam ko doon na ‘yung mamatay ka na, na hindi ka na makakauwi. You cannot go home. Ginaganun ako. You will die here. You don’t have money,” Marie added.

(I pleaded them. I was feeling very off at that time, that I would die and would not be able to come home. They told me, “You cannot go home, you will die here. You don’t have money.”)

They filmed Marie being beaten up, which was sent to her family. Her family was able to send around $1,000 through mobile banking. When they still continued to beat her, Marie thought, “Tanggap ko na, na dito ako mamamatay. Sabi ko, God, ikaw na lang bahala sa akin.” (I accepted that I would die here. I said, God, my life is in your hands.)

Marie’s outside communication resulted in a covert operation to negotiate her release, details of which could not be divulged for security reasons. Marie described the next moments as being seemingly floating — she was slumped on a bed, exhausted from the beating, when her manager asked her: “Can you stand up?”

“Siyempre kahit masuka-suka ako, tayo talaga ako. Pero inakay ako nung dalawang kasama. Kasi hindi na talaga ako makalakad eh. Sila na ‘yung nagbuhat sa akin eh. Iba na ‘yung, iba na ‘yung pakiramdam ko noon eh. Parang naka-drugs ka na hindi mo na, na ‘yung iapak mo, parang nakalutang ka na,” said Marie.

(Even though I was very nauseous and wanted to throw up, I stood up. But I had to be carried by two others, because I really couldn’t walk. They carried me. I felt very bad that time. It felt like being on drugs and being unable to feel your step, like you’re floating.)

A beaten-up Marie was put on to two vehicles until they reached a river — “a different river” — which they crossed using a small boat, not a wheel like the first time, and went on to enter the Thai side of Mae Sot. She was left there in a hotel, where she was fetched by authorities who arranged her repatriation. “Doon na ‘ko nakahinga. Hinalikan ko ‘yung lupa,” said Marie. (That’s when I was able to breathe. I kissed the ground.)

Exodus from the Golden Triangle

Guo is linked to the POGO scam controversy for setting up a real estate firm called Baofu Land Development Incorporated, which leased a compound in Bamban, Tarlac to the raided scam hub Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc./Zun Yuan Technology Inc. Court documents show Guo never divested from Baofu even when she won as Bamban mayor in 2022.

If Guo is indeed heading for the Golden Triangle, then she is doing a trip that’s the reverse of the “exodus” from there to the Philippines.

The UNODC said that when China and Cambodia stepped up their crackdown on casino scam syndicates, there was an exodus from the Golden Triangle. They diversified and went to the Philippines, where offshore gaming aka POGOs, a regulatory gray area, was beginning to rise, thanks in no small part to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) under then-president Rodrigo Duterte.

Marie has undergone psychosocial therapy and has found work. Aside from healing from trauma in Myanmar, she also needs to relearn how to trust — and forgive those who recruited her. She still has a copy of her video being tortured.

“Kapag pinapanood ko ‘yan ngayon, ang naiisip ko, ang tapang-tapang ko pala. Ang suwerte ko.” (Whenever I watch that, I think to myself, I was so brave. I am lucky). – Rappler.com