7 nabbed for illegal recruitment, estafa

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA — The National Bureau of Investigation arrested seven people allegedly involved in illegal recruitment of Filipinos aspiring to work abroad.  The suspects were also suspected of estafa.

Five of them were nabbed by the bureau’s Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division on Wednesday for illegal recruitment of seamen.

Suspects Annaliza Zoleta, Roldan Cordez, Aurora Quine, Ma. Rosario Christina Morales, and Alma Lubiran were nabbed in an entrapment operation in Binondo

They were allegedly running a manpower company without license or approval from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). Their clients went to the NBI to complain against them for collecting placement or processing fees ranging from P25,000 to P80,000.

In a press conference, NBI spokesman Ferdie Lavin clarified that there’s no placement fee required for aspiring seamen.

Lavin and the AOTCD operatives also presented Phoebe Robedillo and her daughter Joeline Nicole. They were arrested in Makati last week for running a language school without permits.

They were also asking P15,000 as a “placement fee” from their victims.

NBI said the complainants against the Robedillos alleged that they were recruited in Davao City “and were promised employment abroad as farm and factory workers.”

The complainants “were required to fly to Manila to enrol in a language school in Makati City” that Phoebe allegedly owned.

An entrapment operation on Sandico street in Barangay Tenejeros Makati City led to their arrest.  SFM/rga