CHARGES were filed before the City Prosecutor’s Office against three suspected illegal recruiters who were arrested in an entrapment operation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) inside a mall in Davao City Wednesday night.
Facing charges for large-scale illegal recruitment and estafa are Louisa Paloma, Paz Caalim, and Catherine Alacapa, all from Davao City.
The three, according to NBI-Davao spokesperson lawyer Arcelito Albao, have been reported by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to have recruited about 10,000 people since December last year when they started their operation in Mindanao.
Albao said the suspects operated a recruitment agency along with three others, but those arrested are the ones accepting money from their recruits. The various amounts were deposited to their accounts.
Albao said the complainants were promised jobs by the suspects in Japan, Korea, Italy, Hungary, and Vietnam where they can choose to work at Hilton Hotel for $900 salary per month, or as a dairy farmer at Prin Group with a monthly pay of P73,000.
But Albao said when the companies mentioned were contacted, they did not know any of the suspects.
Albao also said that under the recruiters' direct-hiring scheme, they will collect P8,000 or P15,000 as an initial requirement for their application and will then be asked to go to Manila to await the processing of their application.
Albao said there are around 100 people recruited by the suspects, who are currently stranded in Manila.
Based on the logbook of filed cases from the City Prosecutor's Office, the cases will be handled by Prosecutor Oliver Saniel. (KGL)