4 Pinays duped by recruiter return home

Philippines - After spending Christmas and New Year at the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, four aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who were duped by a recruiter finally returned to the Philippines on Tuesday morning.

A report over QTV’s Balitanghali said that the four victims – Harnea Sanduyugan, Guiamela Esmael, Norhata Mentol, and Nhoraisa Asi – separately got stranded in Bangkok because their tickets to a connecting flight and the credit card used to pay for the tickets were all fake.

With just tourist visas on hand, the four OFWs, all natives of Cotabato City in Mindanao, were supposed to take connecting flights to Bahrain where they were promised jobs as domestic helpers.

Mentol was the reportedly first to arrive at Bangkok on December 21, followed by Sanduyugan and Esmael on December 22. Asi arrived last on December 23.

“Umiyak na lang kami po dun sa airport dahil sa sobrang takot, ‘di namin nakayanan (We just cried at the airport because of too much fear, we couldn’t help it)," said one of the workers in the report.

The workers said they were scared of their recruiter, Alex Omar, who supplied them the fake documents because he is reportedly a member of the Philippine Army based in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao.

Omar reportedly told them that they will have to pay P60,000 each if they decide to return to the Philippines.

After two weeks of suffering in Bangkok, the workers sought help from the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), paving way for their repatriation early Tuesday.

But the four said they still will not be able to feel at ease because they are afraid that their recruiter might get back at them.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has promised to thoroughly investigate the matter. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more