No bail for two illegal recruiters

CEBU, Philippines - The Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor has recommended no bail against two people charged with illegal recruitment in large scale.

Prosecutor Noel Cellona found probable cause and held Elmer Tecson and Ma. Claire Flores for trial for their failure to deploy Windmark Lim, Geraldine Patalinghug, Ricardo Quisel and Ricardo Diago to work as factory workers in Japan.

“…that on the basis of the sworn statement and other documents submitted before me there exists a reasonable ground to believe that the crime of illegal recruitment in large scale has been committed and that the accused are probably guilty thereof,” read Cellona’s resolution.

In their complaint, Lim, Patalinghug, Quisel and Diago alleged Tecson and Flores recruited them for a job in Japan where they would supposedly earn a monthly salary of P85,000.

They each paid P6,500 to Tecson and Flores as processing and placement fees. However, the two failed to deploy them to Japan.

Flores denied the allegations, saying she was also an applicant for an employment also in Japan.

“That she only accommodated and helped the complainants in their desire to work abroad. That the money given were not for placement but for processing their papers,” the resolution further read.

According to Flores, the deployment was delayed due to the H1N1 virus and the floods in Manila. The applicants were just not patient enough to wait to be deployed, she added.

Tecson, on the other hand, failed to submit his counter-affidavit.

The prosecutor ruled in favor of the complainants, saying Flores and Tecson still failed to deploy the applicants abroad even after the flu virus scare and the Manila flood.

Worse, Cellona said, the supposed plane tickets of the complainants were found out to be faked. —Mylen P. Manto/NSA (FREEMAN)