THREE women tagged in large-scale illegal recruitment are set to appear before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 for arraignment on July 31.
They are identified as Louisa Paloma, Paz Caalim, and Catherine Alacapa.
The accused are facing charges after they were arrested in an entrapment operation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) inside a mall in Davao City last June 3.
Prosecutor Oliver Saniel, in a resolution dated June 16, found probable cause to charge the accused, based on the NBI report that revealed they 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.
NBI reported that the complainants were promised jobs by the respondents 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 Kirin Group with a monthly pay of P73,000.
It was also reported 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.
For estafa charges, Saniel also said that there are sufficient evidence showing that the respondents are not POEA-licensed and recruiters for work abroad.
If proven guilty, the accused will face lifetime imprisonment. (KGL)