Woman arrested for illegal recruitment

MANILA, Philippines - A woman who allegedly duped around 70 would-be overseas workers of at least P3.8 million in exchange for non-existent jobs in Libya was arrested in Ermita, Manila Monday.

Esperanza Carmona, 42, who owns the E.P. Carmona Management and Consultancy Services, reportedly enticed jobseekers to apply as hotel staff in Libya but failed to deploy them, according to Ermita police station chief Superintendent Jose Hidalgo Jr.

Some of her alleged victims had been waiting to leave for Libya since July last year.

Carmona has been continually asking for more money in the guise that they still lacked some documents to comply, the complainants told Hidalgo.

At around 2 p.m., three of the victims – accompanied by undercover policemen led by SPO4 Carlos Chan – proceeded to the suspect’s office along Arquiza street in Ermita after she sent text messages for them to bring more money for processing of their documents. Chan arrested the suspect after she received marked money.

At the police station, Carmona claimed she is engaged in consultancy business and she simply refers job applicants to recruiting agencies. However, she could not explain why she accepted processing fees from the applicants.

Hidalgo said he has directed his investigators to look into Carmona’s alleged link to a firm conducting pre-departure orientation seminars (PDOS) for the victims.

“PDOS are supposed to be conducted for departing applicants. Yet the victims failed to leave even when they attended PDOS in November,” Hidalgo said.

Carmona is now facing charges of large-scale estafa, a non-bailable offense. – Nestor Etolle