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The long arm of the law has caught up with an illegal recruiter operating in Cebu City who has eluded arrest for half a year.

 

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration deputy administrator Ameurfina Reyes identified the illegal recruiter in her report as Ma. Ludina Ceniza.

 

"Ms. Ceniza successfully deployed some workers to Canada and continued charging them with fees for such deployment. Through her Center, she also recruited household service workers for Singapore. To facilitate deployment, she tied-up with Supersonic Manpower Services Corporation, a recruitment agency that has a valid license," Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.

 

Ceniza, the subject of an arrest warrant in August 2011 but who has eluded arrest due to alleged connections with the Bureau of Immigration and the POEA, faces life imprisonment if proven guilty.

 

"Finally, the long arm of the law has caught up with a notorious scammer," Baldoz said.

 

Baldoz added Ceniza promised jobs to prospective overseas Filipino workers as direct-hire hotel workers in Canada, charging them exorbitant fees.

 

She would use as her front the Worldwide Academy of Tourism and Hospitality Training and Assessment Center, which she set up.

 

Her academy had accreditation from the Technical Education and Skilled Development Authority, but the TESDA has since revoked it.

 

Baldoz said the POEA has received complaints from Ceniza’s victims.

 

"The POEA regional center in Cebu reported that the number of complainants against Ceniza continues to mount after news of her arrest. Last Monday, 15 more complainants trooped to the POEA to lodge complaints against this alleged illegal recruiter," Baldoz said.

 

Mary Candice Aleta from Tagbilaran, Bohol, one of Ceniza’s victims, said Ceniza charged her P105,000, promising her a job as a singer in Singapore with a salary of S$1,400 a month.

 

The job, however, brought only S$30 for four hours of work per night.

 

Aleta also said Ceniza faked her papers and made it look like she graduated with a degree in hotel and restaurant management.

 

DOLE asks victims to file complaints

 

Meanwhile, Baldoz asked victims of illegal recruitment to file complaints against those who have duped them.

 

"You have to also help us in the DOLE prosecute the illegal recruiters until they are jailed," she said.

 

Baldoz also warned illegal recruiters, saying the government is determined to put them in jail.

 

"This year, we are reactivating our anti-illegal recruitment task forces under the regional coordinating committees headed by our DOLE regional directors. We are working with local chief executives, the police, the Department of Justice, and civil society towards the goal of making our barangays, towns, cities, and provinces as "illegal recruitment-free LGUs", Baldoz said. –KG, GMA News