450 would-be OFWs file charges vs 2 illegal recruiters

A total of 456 more jobseekers have surfaced to file complaints against two women being hunted by police for large-scale illegal recruitment, the Task Force Anti-Illegal Recruitment (Tfair) said Saturday. Tfair head Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa said his office has received 300 additional complaints from victims of Luz Alipio Carte and 156 from victims of Valerie Valero over the past week. Carte is said to operate the LAC Recruitment Agency with office at the A. Francisco Gold Condominium along EDSA in Quezon City. Valero runs a “language" training center. Sosa said the latest string of cases, filed by victims coming from as far as Davao and Iloilo, had already been referred to the Department of Justice for preliminary investigation. To save them the trouble of traveling all the way to the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City just to file their statements, the new set of complainants had been allowed to do so in their local police offices. “Nakipag-coordinate na rin kami sa CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) field offices na doon na kunan ng statement para di na sumama sa Camp Crame," Sosa said in an interview on Vice President Noli De Castro’s radio program Para sa Iyo, Bayan. De Castro, who is presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers’ concerns, is concurrent chairman of the Tfair. The task force’s mission is to conduct surveillance and entrapment operations and effect warrants of arrest against the illegal recruiters, cause immediate investigations and speedy prosecution of cases. Some 700 complainants earlier approached Tfair to report the elaborate scam conducted by Valero. Sosa said Valero, whose real name is Bridget Pedrosa Logarta, allegedly promised her victims to earn P300,000 monthly for jobs abroad. The victims, however, first had to undergo a language training and pay a certain Alba Lumeng P35,000. Valero disappeared after collecting a big amount of money from her victims, Sosa said. Five of her accomplices had been arrested. During the program, De Castro appealed to the public to call the task force if they know the whereabouts of the suspect. He said the task force can be reached at (02)414-2199. The task force is also hunting at least 276 suspects who have standing arrest warrants for large-scale illegal recruitment and estafa (fraud). Sixty-eight of the suspects have double-digit number of arrest warrants, with a woman named Harleta Velasco topping the list with 134 arrest warrants. Joining Velasco on top of the list were Rosemarie Liwanag (82), Maricar Inovero (79), Corazon Ventura (48), Amelia Gabriel (29), Beverly Tuazon (27), Maria Harleta Velasco (27) – suspected to be the same recruiter with the most number of arrests— Aminola Camarudin (24), and Marissa Biyalat - Wanted but freed Sosa also said that suspected illegal recruiter Alita Caseria from Quezon City was earlier this month released from detention despite having pending cases. Caseria was arrested in 2008 by Tfair in connection to an illegal recruitment complaint against her. The Tfair chief said Presiding Judge Maria Felomina Sing of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 85 ordered the release of Caseria after witnesses backed out. He questioned the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology’s (BJMP) action of releasing the detainees despite having knowledge that the resolution for a separate case against her remains pending at the Department of Justice. “Dapat ang BJMP kahit may previous case (na na-dismiss), dapat hindi pinapalaya kapag may pending case pa rin (Even if a case of suspect gets dismissed, he or she should still not be set free if he or she has other pending cases)," Sosa said. De Castro appealed to BJMP chief General Rosendo Dial to look into the matter. “Kung kayo ay nakikinig paki-check ninyo itong mga personnel ninyo na nagpalabas ng isang illegal suspect samantalang may kaso pa sa amin na bago," De Castro said. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV