Chinese nabbed for duping recruitment firms

MANILA, Philippines — A 33-year-old Chinese man who escaped from detention three years ago after tricking his custodian was rearrested – this time for allegedly swindling several recruitment agency operators – in Manila Thursday afternoon.

Michael Vincent Tan was served a warrant of arrest while waiting for a person at a mall in Pasay City at around noon, said Chief Inspector Joselito de Ocampo, Manila Police District (MPD) general assignment and investigation chief.

Margaret Chang, owner of Kanya Int’l Services, said Tan called on recruitment agencies and offered them job orders from Taiwan worth millions of pesos.

She said the suspect went to her office on Mabini street and asked for a downpayment to deliver the job orders. She set up a meeting at the mall, where she was supposed to meet the source of the job orders.

After receiving the downpayment, Tan disappeared.

Chang was informed later that Tan had also victimized some of her friends in the industry using the same modus operandi.

Tan, who was arrested during an entrapment operation on Aug. 14, 2015, became a fugitive after he and alleged accomplice Bobby Wang escaped from detention. Their escape led to the arrest of his custodian, Police Officer 3 Marlon Anonuevo.

Anonuevo was charged before the Manila prosecutor’s office with infidelity in custody of a prisoner by conniving with or consenting to evasion under Article 223 of the Revised Penal Code.

Investigation showed that Tan and Wang escaped from Anonuevo minutes after they went to an automated teller machine (ATM) booth along United Nations Avenue on Aug. 15, 2015.

Anonuevo claimed he was escorting Tan to the Ospital ng Maynila for a medical examination when the suspects jumped from the motorcycle.

A source told The STAR then that Tan allegedly offered Anonuevo money that he would withdraw from the ATM.