Travel agent who sent Pinoy drug courier to China nabbed

MANILA, Philippines -  An official of a travel agency that reportedly sent one of three Filipinos set to be executed in China for drug trafficking was arrested and charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) said yesterday.

Jose Bernardino Batnag, operations manager of Winluck Travel Agency, was charged yesterday with violating the anti-human trafficking law and the migrant worker’s act. He was arrested Feb. 28 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 while allegedly facilitating the exit of four women bound for Macau and Canton in China. The women were later offloaded due to incomplete travel documents.

“After closer investigation, we have reason to believe this Winluck Travel Agency is the agency responsible for facilitating the exit of Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, the OFW convicted in China and meted the death penalty,” IACAT national task force chief Assistant City Prosecutor Jonathan Lledo said.

He clarified that Batnag was charged in connection with the case of the four women, who were supposed to work in China using tourist visas, and has nothing to do yet with Villanueva’s case.

Lledo said Batnag has not yet admitted their agency’s role in Villanueva’s flight to China, but “our intelligence information disclosed their travel agency was involved in the… case.”

The National Bureau of Investigation has already interviewed Villanueva’s alleged recruiter, Tita Nera Cacayan.