A suspected illegal recruiter who allegedly promised high-paying jobs abroad was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation in an entrapment operation in his house at barangay Canduman, Mandaue City, last Thursday morning.
Albert Flores fell to NBI agents after he received the marked money from three of the 30 complainants who earlier sought the help of the agency after they learned from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration that he is not authorized to recruit workers for jobs abroad.
The three complainants against Flores were Maribel Velasco, Tito Jeffrey Adlawan and Brian Libeste —all residents of barangay Tayud in Liloan town.
They alleged that sometime last January Flores recruited them to work as janitors in Dubai, and promised them a monthly salary of as much as P40,000.
Flores allegedly collected P10,000 from each of them as processing and placement fees with a promise that they will be deployed within the month.
On top of the amount that Flores allegedly collected, Adlawan and Velasco claimed that they were also required to pay an additional P2,500 for each of their passports. Velasco added that she was further asked to pay P600 as payment for a special power of attorney.
The complainants said they started to suspect Flores was fake when the latter failed to send them to Dubai on the day of their promised departure.
They alleged that Flores kept on postponing their departure, and this prompted them to check with the POEA to determine the true status of Flores as a recruiter.
The POEA-7 issued a certification that Flores is not an authorized recruiter, the complainants said, adding that when they checked also with the Admiral Recruitment Agency, it denied knowing Flores as part of the agency. The agency then referred them to the NBI, which then set up the entrapment.
The NBI is now preparing the filing of charges against Flores for violation of Republic Act 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, and Article 315 of the Revise Penal Code or estafa. — Fred P. Languido/RAE
