2 Japanese, 6 Filipinos held for illegal recruitment

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CID) yesterday arrested two Japanese and six Filipinos accused of running an illegal recruitment firm in Quezon City.

Operatives from the CIDG Anti-Transnational Crime Unit apprehended Kiyotaka Shikida, Masanobu Izumihara, Rona de Guzman, Rolaida Miranda, Michelle Chua, Sheryll Manago, Izzur Rosales and Alvin Salvador in a raid on a training center in Barangay South Triangle at around 1:30 p.m., ATCU chief Superintendent Roque Merdegia said

Police took the suspects into custody after one of them accepted P12,000 in marked money from an alleged victim.

Merdegia said the operation stemmed from complaints by five people who claimed they were duped by the suspects into giving P30,000 each in exchange for jobs as caregivers in Japan.

According to Merdegia, the suspects would entice people from the provinces to enroll in their training center for eventual deployment to Japan as caregivers.

The victims sought police assistance when they learned at the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency the training center is  not a recruitment firm.

De Guzman said they never told the victims they are a recruitment agency. “We told them from the start that we are just a language training school,” she said.

De Guzman said one of the supposed victims is the one involved in illegal recruitment.

Merdegia said they will file charges of illegal recruitment, economic sabotage and estafa against the suspects, who are detained at the ATCU office in Camp Crame.