Anti-illegal recruiter agents nab 3 people for duping aspiring OFWs

Authorities had arrested three women for allegedly duping aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

Vice President Noli de Castro, who heads the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (Tfair), identified the suspects as Roselyn A. Lopez, Agnes A. Haduca, and Luz Alipio Carthy.

“The arrests are part of the government's intensified campaign against illegal recruitment," said De Castro, who is also the presidential adviser on OFWs.

He said Tfair agents nabbed Lopez last August 18 at the Farmers Plaza in Cubao in Quezon City where she was about to collect payment from her four victims.

The task force’s investigation showed that the suspect recruited the four through a direct hiring scheme to work in Cyprus as domestic helpers with salaries of P25,000 each per month.

De Castro alleged that Lopez told the victims they could be “deployed" if they shell out P150,000 each for “processing fee" and an additional P5,000 for “escort service fee" when they are already at the airport.

Also on August 18, Tfair’s agents, together with representatives of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), arrested Haduca in a coffee shop at the Mall of Asia in Manila. The arrest stemmed from a complaint by seven nurses alleging that Haduca promised them non-existent jobs in New Zealand with a monthly salary of P160,000.

Complainants Jenny Casulla Gutierez, Allan Jay Lucero Reyes, Katherine Castillo Jallores, Genasky Rocha Maya, Monsher Malogka Suraik, Leo Tombo Hernandez and Leopoldo Villanueva Gabrador said the suspect had collected P60,000 from each of them, but the promised work never materialized.

Another suspect, Carthy, had been arrested in Meycauayan, Bulacan by local officials, who later turned her over to the Tfair. Carthy had likewise promised her 10 victims jobs in France as factory workers and housekeepers with salary of P120,000 every month.

After collecting P20,000 from each of her 10 victims, Carthy failed to deliver on her promise and the victims tracked her down in Bulacan.

All the three suspects are currently in the hands of the Tfair in Camp Crame, Quezon City, said De Castro. They will be charged with illegal recruitment which prohibits them from posting bail.

De Castro had earlier directed the task force to go after big-time illegal recruiters with pending warrants of arrest.

Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, Tfair operations chief, said at least 276 Filipino individuals are facing more than 20,000 unserved warrants of arrest for large-scale illegal recruitment. At least 68 of the suspects have more than 10 warrants of arrest each.

But Col. Bernie Yang of the Tfair had earlier told GMANews.TV in a phone interview that they have already narrowed down the number of unserved warrants after some successful entrapment operations.

He also said that they would soon be coming out with posters of the top 50 illegal recruiters in the country to reveal their names and pictures to the public.

Based on statistics supplied by Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, there were 1,662 confirmed victims of illegal recruitment from January to November 2008, an increase of 4 percent during the same period in 2007. - GMANews.TV
| | More

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