File complaints, PHL labor execs urge Pinoy victims of illegal recruiter

After an illegal recruiter was arrested in Cebu, Philippine labor officials urged victims of unlawful recruiters to file complaints. In a news release of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Tuesday, Labor Secretary Rosalindo Baldoz said: "You have to also help us in the DOLE prosecute the illegal recruiters until they are jailed." Baldoz said the DOLE is reactivating its anti-illegal recruitment task forces under the regional coordinating committees headed by 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. Illegal recruiter in Cebu Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) deputy administrator Ameurfina Reyes identified the illegal recruiter who was arrested in Cebu as Ma. Ludina Ceniza, who evaded arrest for almost six months.   "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," Baldoz said. "To facilitate deployment, she tied-up with Supersonic Manpower Services Corporation, a recruitment agency that has a valid license," Baldoz noted.   Ceniza has been the subject of an arrest warrant in August 2011. However, the DOLE report said she escaped due to alleged connections with the Bureau of Immigration and the POEA. She faces life imprisonment if proven guilty.   "Finally, the long arm of the law has caught up with a notorious scammer," Baldoz said.   The investigation showed that Ceniza charged exorbitant fees to prospective overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), luring them with with jobs as direct-hire hotel workers in Canada. DOLE said as her front a company that she set up — the Worldwide Academy of Tourism and Hospitality Training and Assessment Center, which had accreditation from the Technical Education and Skilled Development Authority (TESDA) but the TESDA has since revoked it.   "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.   One of the complainants, a certain Mary Candice Aleta from Tagbilaran, Bohol, said Ceniza charged her P105,000 for a S$1,400 a month job as a singer in Singapore.   The job actually paid only S$30 for four hours of singing work per night. - VVP, GMA News