2 ‘illegal recruiters’ face charges in court

CEBU, Philippines - Two suspected illegal recruiters were indicted before the court after the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office has found probable cause against them for recruiting workers for abroad without authority from the government.

Prosecutor Noel Cellona recommended no bail against Elmer Tecson and Ma. Claire Flores since the charges of large scale illegal recruitment against them constituted economic sabotage.

Tecson and Flores were accused by Romar Dela Torre, Jose Enario, Wilden Saban and Jonrey Goldin of recruiting them in 2008 to work as factory workers in Japan.

They were allegedly asked to pay P6,000 to P6,500 as processing and placement fees.

But, despite having paid the required amount they were not deployed abroad.

The victims later found out that the two accused were not licensed recruiters by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

The prosecutor’s office subpoenaed the two accused to answer the complaint but only Flores submitted her counter-affidavit denying  the  allegations.

Flores claimed that she was also an applicant who only tried to help the complainants in their desire to work abroad. She said the money given by the complainants was not for placement fees but for processing of their papers.

“The reasons of the delay of the deployment were due to H1N1 virus and Manila flood,” she stated.

Her reason, however, was not given credence by the prosecutor. The prosecutor ruled that Flores was not just an applicant but was one of the recruiters. —/FPL (FREEMAN)