4 face raps for duping 200 jobseekers

MANILA, Philippines - Four people face charges of large-scale illegal recruitment for victimizing more than 200 jobseekers from across the country, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said Friday. 

Police are hunting down Osmando Habilag, owner of Bantayog Travel and Tours in Tanza, Cavite; Alejandro Navarro, Habilog’s cousin and owner of Pads Travel and Tours on Mother Ignacia Avenue, Quezon City; Alex Ramos alias Alex Carlos of Pads Travel and Tours and Veraflor delos Reyes, an agent of Bantayog, said POEA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac.

He said of the 200 victims, 38 have filed statements.

Cacdac, alleging that the mastermind of the scam is Habilag, vowed to “institute together with law enforcement a nationwide manhunt for this person.”

Most of the complainants came from Davao City and Davao del Norte while others are from Pangasinan, Cebu, Cavite, Compostella Valley, Iloilo, Tarlac, Misamis Oriental, Leyte and Caloocan City.

Cacdac warned the public “not to engage themselves first and foremost with Bantayog Travel and Tours; PADS Travel and Tours; and Visa Assist Fortune Diamond Rays, a visa consultancy firm. All do not have license to recruit.”

He also said jobseekers should steer clear of “entities not licensed by the POEA.”

The victims first went to the Blas Ople Policy Center, which referred them to the POEA and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

The recruitment took place between March and May this year through recruitment agents, seminars and announcements on Facebook.

The complainants were promised jobs as butchers in Australia and New Zealand; nurses in Germany and teachers, caregivers, butchers, meat processing workers and hotel service crew in Japan.

CIDG officer-in-charge Chief Inspector Baltazar Beran asked jobseekers to be vigilant against unlicensed recruiters.

“Know the telltale signs of illegal recruitment… Coordinate with us. Help us set up an entrapment operations, against these people which is faster,” he said.

Beran added it “takes months or years before a warrant of arrest could come out and by that time, the illegal recruiters would have already gone into hiding.”