Bar owner faces raps for illegal recruitment

The National Bureau of Investigation has arrested a videoke bar owner for allegedly duping 25 people of a large sum of money and promising them non-existent jobs as wine factory workers in Italy.

William Bautista Marcial, 39, who owns Channel 1 videoke bar in Cubao, Quezon City, was caught in an entrapment operation following complaints by Shallie Comilang-Pamaran that Marcial tricked 25 of their group’s members into giving him between P20,000 to P150,000 each in return for giving them jobs in Italy.

Pamaran is a director of the International Coordinating Advisory Group, which is an accredited non-government organization of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Pamaran, who was visibly angry when she confronted the suspect at the NBI, said Marcial misrepresented himself as a colonel at the PNP and an intelligence officer of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

He also claimed to be a son-in-law of former NBI Director Emmanuel Velasco and previously worked for former NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco.

Marcial has been charged with violating Republic Act 8042, otherwise known as the Migrant Workers Act and Overseas Act of 1995; estafa; usurpation of public authority; and falsification of public official documents by a private individual before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office.              – Evelyn Macairan