Illegal recruiters promising jobs abroad to 153 victims arrested

Racquel Maramag, one of the victims, said her recruiter has held her passport for six months despite paying up to P20,000 in processing fees for a job in Malaysia. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net

At least four illegal recruiters who promised jobs in New Zealand, France and Malaysia to over 150 victims have been arrested by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP-CIDG) in separate entrapment operations.

Police Director Roel Obusan, CIDG director, on Wednesday presented to the media the suspects arrested for syndicated estafa and large-scale illegal recruitment, a non-bailable case.  The CIDG’s National Capital Region unit and Anti-Transnational Crime Unit led the operations against the suspects conducted last week.

They were identified as Julieta Lipit, 52; Shiela Marie Amil, 47; Mary Keith Velasco, 28; and Remigio “Mhar” Mariano, 46, a former recruitment agency employee.

During the press conference at the CIDG headquarters in Camp Crame, over 20 out of 153 victims stood beside the arrested illegal recruiters. Some of them even took videos of the presentation while the suspects in orange detainee garb hid their faces from the cameras.

“These people behind me will be put behind bars and really behind bars so no other Filipinos will become victims of this illegal recruitment,” Obusan said.

Obusan said the recruiters duped the victims into paying up to P90,000 in placement fees, including the fees for processing, training and medical examination.

“Iiwan nila mga mahal nila sa buhay sa probinsiya. Magbebenta ng lupa, ng kung ano ano, may nagbenta pa ng baka (They left their loved ones back in the province. They sold land, anything they can, even their cow) just to sustain the financial requirements of this hocus pocus recruitment,” he said.

He said the victims easily believed that the recruiters were legitimate because they sent them to skills training in farms, particularly those who were applying for dairy farming job in New Zealand.

“Nilagayan ng konting semblance of truth. We all know sa POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration), hindi ka basta basta maapprove without the skills training kaya nilalagayan nila ng training. Sinasabayan nila ‘yung tama. The modus is trying to equate what is legal to their illegal works,” Obusan said.

(They put a little semblance of truth. We all know in POEA that you won’t be approved without the skills training so they put training. They’re trying to go along with what’s right.)

Speaking to the media, one of the victims who identified herself as “Grace” from Davao province said her recruiter promised her a two-year employment contract in New Zealand with P150,000 salary per month.

Another victim Racquel Maramag from Cavite said her recruiter took her passport since she started her application and had held it since August. Maramag said this despite paying P20,000 in processing fees.

Robinson Tumampos, meanwhile, told reporters that he had ended up buried in debt just to pay the required fees to the illegal recruiters.

“Talagang bumagsak po yung pangarap ko para maahon ko pamilya ko sa kahirapan (My dreams of taking my family out of poverty has truly been crushed),” Tumampos said. JE