Couple arrested for illegal PCG service recruitment

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen and personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard clamped down a couple who had duped 10 individuals into "enlistment" in the PCG in exchange for P120,000 cash each.

The suspects, Leonardo Yarte and his spouse, Lyka, were arrested on Saturday, March 8, by combined members of the PCG, agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and operatives from different units of the Police Regional Office-12 in Barangay Tinagacan in General Santos City, while in a bus en route to Davao City, along with their unsuspecting victims.

Radio reports on Sunday morning, March 9, from the neighboring cities of General Santos, Cotabato, Koronadal, and Tacurong in Central Mindanao stated that the Yartes were planning to escort their victims to Manila via Davao City, where they would "facilitate" their employment in the PCG in exchange for the money collected from them.

The operation that led to the couple’s arrest and the rescue of their 10 victims was carried out by members of the PCG’s intelligence and special operations groups in Southern Mindanao, the CIDG, and police units from PRO-12. It was based on tips from confidential informants about their illegal recruitment scheme.

PRO-12's director, Police Brig. Gen. Arnold Ardiente, said the General Santos City Police Station will help the CIDG file corresponding criminal cases against the Yartes based on formal complaints from the 10 persons that they had illegally recruited.

Local executives, among them members of the multi-sector General Santos City Peace and Order Council, said the Yartes are now locked in a detention facility of the CIDG in the city.

Ardiente said the CIDG and PRO-12 shall cooperate in returning the 10 victims to their respective families after investigators have gathered from them information on how they got recruited by the Yartes.

In a statement released on Sunday, the commandant of PCG, Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan, ordered officials of their district stations in all regions to work along with the police in guarding against such illegal recruitment activity.

Ardiente said the Yartes will be prosecuted for violating the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012, usurpation of authority for falsely promising their victims enlistment into the PCG despite having no connection with the agency and large-scale estafa.