THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) launched Friday a nationwide manhunt against individuals conducting illegal recruitment activities, wherein they victimized at least 200 aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from 11 provinces and cities.
In a hastily called press conference on Friday, POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac bared that they have launched a nationwide manhunt against four suspects, led by Osmando “Ozhie” N. Habilag.
“The mastermind if you will of this whole operation: Osmando N. Habilag. We will institute together with law enforcement a nationwide manhunt against this person,” said Cacdac.
Other suspects include Alejandro Navarro, and Alex Ramos/Alex Carlos of PADS Travel and Tours, and Veraflor delos Reyes, who is also from Bantayog Travel and Tours like Habilag.
According to the POEA, the large-scale illegal recruiters were able to deceive aspiring OFWs from Davao City and Caloocan City as well as from the provinces of Davao del Norte, Pangasinan, Cebu, Cavite, Compostela Valley, Iloilo, Tarlac, Misamis Oriental, and Leyte.
Of the 200 victims, Cacdac said a total of 38 have already executed their sworn statements before the Anti-Transnational Crime Unit (ATCU) of the Philippine National Police - Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (PNP-CIDG).
Citing statements of the victims, Cacdac bared that the illegal recruitment activities took place between March to May of this year via recruitment agents, provincial orientations, and Facebook posts.
Among the jobs being offered include butchers for Australia and New Zealand; nurses for Germany; and teachers, caregivers, welders, and hotel crewmen for Japan.
He noted how the workers were also promised of salaries ranging from P120,000 to P350,000 coupled with free accommodation and transportation to and from the workplace.
“The recruiters enticed and lured the workers by guaranteeing immediate deployment, between 30 to 60 days; that they will be processed as name-hire workers; that they know somebody from POEA that could facilitate their deployment through such scheme; and that Habilag has a cousin in Navarro that shall arrange the papers before the POEA,” said Cacdac.
In turn, the victims were required to pay an amount ranging from P70,000 to P90,000, with the P55,000 supposedly for reservation fee and P15,000 to P20,000 as processing fee.
Cacdac, then, urged the public to avoid dealing with the identified individuals as well as the companies they are representing.
“We are warning the public not to engage themselves with these entities because they do not possess licenses to recruit OFWs,” said Cacdac. (HDT/Sunnex)