More than a thousand workers, largely from other Asian nations, were rescued by police at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga province after becoming prey to human traffickers.

Last Monday, officers from the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) searched the six five-story buildings of Colorful and Leap Group, a corporation based at Clark Sun Valley Hub in Mabalacat City, on Jose Abad Santos Avenue.

A total of 1,090 people were "rescued" and designated as victims of human trafficking, including 389 Vietnamese, 307 Chinese, 171 Filipinos, 143 Indonesians, 40 Nepalese, 25 Malaysians, seven Burmese, five Thai, two Taiwanese, and one from Hong Kong.

According to the ACG, they were forced to labor at least 18 hours a day in a "fraudulent cyber-enabled industry" that employed bogus investments and cryptocurrencies as bait.

Meanwhile, ACG spokesperson Capt. Michelle Sabino said that formal accusations were filed at the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Saturday against 12 "maintainers" of the firm.

There were seven Chinese nationals, four Indonesians, and one Malaysian among the 12.