Man poses as Palau diplomat, dupes would-be OFWs

Police arrested yesterday a man accused of representing himself as a diplomat from Palau to dupe aspiring overseas workers of hundreds of thousands pesos for non-existent jobs abroad.

Remigio Jacobe will be charged with large-scale estafa, according to Chief Inspector Alex Navarette, the Manila Mayor’s Special Action Team chief.

The complainants told police they gave Jacobe P20,000 to P40,000 each for him to speed up the processing of their travel visas.

Consuelo Soriano, one of the complainants, told Navarette she gave $1,400 to Jacobe to facilitate her travel to Chicago. Her son, Robert Michael also gave P128,000 on the promise that he could work in Japan.

The other complainants said they were recruited in Misamis Occidental and Cebu by Jacobe, who introduced himself as “Rolando Macapas,” a Palau diplomat.

Jacobe told them they can work in Palau as hotel workers and he can process their travel papers, the complainants added.

They were also instructed to go to Manila and wait for further instructions since they are already scheduled to leave. The complainants started to arrive in Manila three days ago.

Navarette decided to stage an entrapment operation after Jacobe called Soriano to meet him and bring another $200 for the processing of her papers.

Police arrested Jacobe after he received the $200 from Soriano near the Aloha Hotel on Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

Police recovered from Jacobe the $200, several passports, and pictures showing Jacobe with Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, former president Fidel Ramos and several top government officials.    – Nestor Etolle