3 charged for sending OFWs to Singapore with fake working visas

MANILA, Philippines - The owner and two employees of a travel agency allegedly involved in sending four overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Singapore with falsified working visas were formally charged Monday before the Manila Regional Trial Court.

Charged with violations of Migrant Workers and Overseas Act of 1995 were Luciano Lim, proprietor of Excellent Travel Inc, and his two employees, Ronald Lingad and Flordeliza Herpacio.

The three were arrested last April 15, 2008 after victims – Ermelinda Asis, Marites Potot, Maryjean Estabillo and Lita Castillo – filed a complaint against them.

Assistant City Prosecutor Joseph L. Guevarra, the prosecutor recommended no bail for the provisional release of the three accused.

Government investigations showed that Lim’s agency had been allegedly involved in the recruitment of prospective applicants by using local and foreign recruitment agencies based in the country and Singapore as conduit.

Agents of the Excellent Travel then contact those in the list purportedly for possible deployment once selected by the foreign sponsoring agencies.

Investigators said this is a clear circumvention of the law to avoid existing rules and regulations of the Philippine Overseas & Employment Administration (POEA), specifically the requirement for the standard minimum wage of not less than US$400 monthly for domestic helpers.

During investigation, the complainants narrated that they received telephone calls from Lim’s firm early this year informing them that a slot for a job as domestic helper in Singapore had been allotted to them.

The complainants told investigators that Lim’s agency instructed them to report and bring their passports and placement fee ranging from P12,000 to P15,000. After complying with the requirement, the four women said they had been issued plane tickets and scheduled for deployment.

After they were fetched and brought to the NAIA by Lingad, the complainants claimed they had been coerced by the accused to board the plane for Singapore when they refused to leave upon learning that they do not have working visas.

The women said they were fetched from the Singapore airport by their employers and were made to sign a job contract.

The victims were repatriated soon after Singaporean authorities discovered that their working visas were faked. - GMANews.TV

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