Saudi Arabia has granted the Philippines' appeal to exempt the thousands of overstaying and illegally working Filipinos in the kingdom from the payment of all charges and penalties before they leave the kingdom, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Monday.

She said the kingdom had issued new guidelines allowing the undocumented Filipinos to avoid jail and eventual deportation and giving them two options to legalize their stay: return to the Philippines or find a new employer and stay.

MANILA, Philippines -- Forty-two sex workers, including a minor, were rescued from a night club in Angeles City, Pampanga Thursday night, police said Friday.

Police also arrested five persons, including three foreigners, who were maintaining the night club in Balibago and charged them with human trafficking.

Hundreds of people were arrested in the United States in 2012 as authorities crack down on "the evil" of human trafficking, US officials said Friday, warning modern-day slaves could be hidden in any neighborhood.

Around the world some 27 million people, including women and girls, are the victims of trafficking, US Secretary of State John Kerry said as he chaired an inter-agency White House meeting on trafficking.