Help 2 Pinoys facing fraud raps, DFA urged

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is being asked to help two Filipino businessmen who have been arrested and allegedly wrongly charged with fraud in the United States.

Lawyer Oliver Baclay Jr. said his clients – Innocentrix president and chief executive Michael Cris Traya Sordilla and Bryan Navales Tarosa – were arrested last Dec. 9 in San Diego, California.

“We are appealing to the DFA, in particular to the consulate in Los Angeles which has jurisdiction over San Diego, to look into their case. Even a short visit to the detention facility, to talk with Michael and Bryan will do. Things can start from there,” he said.

Baclay said it was likely that the DFA might still be unaware of his clients’ plight, adding that the agency could be busy looking into the cases involving other Filipinos who have been detained under the Trump administration’s new immigration policies.

Baclay made the appeal as he decried that Sordilla and Tarosa were not accorded their Miranda rights and other US constitutional civil guarantees when they were unlawfully detained.

“Michael and Bryan were detained in the absence of US constitutional guarantees, they were detained without observing their Miranda rights, they were detained without informing them what is the nature of the accusations against them,” he claimed.

At a press briefing, Baclay denied that Sordilla and Tarosa were involved in a $44-million book publishing scam that allegedly defrauded elderly authors across the US.

Baclay asserted that his clients or their company had nothing to do with the alleged fraud, and had already fired the three sales agents involved in the case when they were arrested.

“We categorically deny any criminal liability. Those unlawful acts were made by former agents of Innocentrix. Innocentrix has strong and established company guidelines for its agents not to commit misrepresentation,” Baclay’s statement read.

“The fraudulent activities were done by individual agents themselves. But these practices were not sanctioned, were not condoned by Innocentrix. We have strong evidence to prove this. In fact, if you are caught committing these illegal activities, you will be suspended and later on terminated from the company. Right now, the company is looking into criminal investigations against these agents,” he added.

Baclay also clarified that a review of the complaint filed against his clients showed that the amount involved in the alleged scam is only $2 million, not $44 million, stressing that Innocentrix has even initiated refunds for the complainants.