The National Bureau of Investigation-Cavite North District Office arrested two individuals for illegally recruiting people to work overseas and for estafa.
The suspects identified as Girish Fuego and Glenmore Banagan were arrested during an entrapment operation on February 27. The arrest stemmed from the complaint filed by seven individuals against the two.
One of the complainants said in his sworn statement that Fuego introduced himself as a recruitment agent of CPL Masters Recruitment Inc. and was offered to work in Austria as a mason with a monthly salary of around P100,000.
The complainant paid P166,600 to Fuego for the processing fee as well as other requirements such as medical examination, working visa, travel insurance, placement fee, and plane tickets.
However, the suspects placed the complainants inside a house in General Trias, Cavite, for several weeks.
“However, Fuego told the complainant that the employer in Austria refused to issue a work permit, and for this reason he will instead be deployed to Croatia as a factory assistant, for which the complainant acceded. Complainant, together with other applicants, stayed in the house of Fuego in Nueva Estancia Subdivision, Gen. Trias Cavite,” the NBI said in a statement.
“Banagan then took the passport of all the applicants purportedly for the purpose of visa application and issuance of Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC). Applicants/victims stayed in the house of Fuego for several weeks while waiting for the promised Overseas Employment Certificate, Working Visa, and eventual deployment abroad but to no avail,” the bureau added.
After over a year of waiting, the complainants sought the assistance of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), and the latter found out that the suspects are not authorized to recruit workers for overseas employment. The DMW also said that Fuego and Banagan are not affiliated with any recruitment agency.
“Banagan admitted that he was also prosecuted and arrested for large-scale illegal recruitment in the provinces of Batangas and Marinduque,” the NBI said.
The suspects were presented for inquest proceedings for violation of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 and for estafa under the Revised Penal Code. — Vince Angelo Ferreras/VBL, GMA Integrated News
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