MANILA, Philippines — The promise of large sums of money, travel and even romantic relationships are things that lure Filipinos to work for drug syndicates as couriers or “mules.”

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Saturday provided some insight into why Filipinos choose to transport illegal substances for international drug rings. Director Derrick Carreon, chief of the PDEA Public Information Office, also wanted to erase the notion that the mules are usually overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Carreon explained that many couriers were recruited either through acquaintances or social networking websites like Tagged.com.

In a radio interview, Carreon said 63 percent of the recruits are women who were wooed with promises of travel, big amounts of money, and even relationships.

Some of them even became girlfriends of drug syndicate members, he said.

The drug runners, identified as members of the West African Drug Syndicate (WADS), also hire pregnant women who usually get special consideration at airports in foreign countries.

“If it is to good to be true, don’t accept it,” warned Carreon, saying the syndicates would be sending money to their recruits and even arrange to prepare their travel papers.

Carreon said many of the recruits come from Metro Manila, although recruitment also take place in provinces like Cavite, Abra, Isabela, Pampanga, Davao, Pangasinan, Ifugao, Iloilo, Bulacan, and Oriental Mindoro.

The OFWs who are recruited are illegal immigrants who are usually approached by fellow Filipinos who offer to help them earn more money and extend their stay in a foreign country.

Citing the cases of drug mules recruited here in the country, Carreon said the Filipino recruits are initially brought to countries in the Indo-China peninsula where they are made to stay for a while and given money for their expenses.

Eventually, they will be offered to travel to another country and offered more money on the pretext of helping a group of persons there.

First-time recruits usually do not know the contents of the package they picked up from the source country for delivery to a destination country.

Only after the mule delivers the package will the syndicate reveal its contents, Carreon said.

The mule who will be asked it they want to carry out another shipment.

The courier becomes more daring in concealing the drugs, Carreon said. Some swallow the drugs, or insert them in female genitals or in anal cavities. There are even couriers who surgically implant the packages under their skin.

Director Joseph Ladip, chief of PDEA’s International Cooperation and Foreign Affairs Service, said some Filipinos become mules because they desperately need the money, but there are also who are well-off by who want to earn more.

Ladip said that last December he talked to a Filipina in Bangkok, Thailand, who arrested after smuggle in illegal drugs.

Ladip said the Filipina, who was in her early 30s, was a college graduate and had worked as a call center agent earning at least P30,000 a month.

When he asked her why she became a mule, she replied that she wanted more money.

Ladip described the woman to be unrepentant and even arrogant, perhaps because was trying to mask her fear.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said the WADS operates in Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and neighboring countries.

Deputy Director for Intelligence Services Ruel Lasala said the drug trafficking group could have recruited Sally Ordinario-Villanueva who was sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking.

“So far, sa ngayon lumalabas lang si Tita Nera Cacayan. Pero ang members West African Drug Trafficking group ay pinag iimbestigahan ng mga operatiba natin (So far, our only suspect is Tita Cacayan. But our operatives are also eyeing the West African Drug Trafficking Syndicate),” said Lasala.

Lasala said it appears that Villanueva did not know that she was transporting drugs.

On Friday, Villanueva’s husband, Hilarion, named Cacayan as the one who handed the bag containing the drugs to his wife.

He said he accompanied his wife to Cacayan’s house in Isabela where Cacayan handed them the luggage.

After learning that Villanueva had been arrested in China, Cacayan finally admitted to Hilarion that the luggage contained drugs.

He said Cacayan had enticed his wife to apply in a factory in China and even assisted in her travel processing and paid all expesense. “Binigyan pa niya ng allowance ang asawa ko ang alam ko 1,000 dollars,” he said.

NBI Assistant Director Medardo de Lemos said Hilarion’s statement could be the basis for filing a case against Cacayan.

Cacayan insisted that she was innocent and told NBI operatives who picked her up from her house in Barangay Rizal, Alicia town, Isabela, that she wanted to clear her name.