The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Cavite North District Office (CAVIDO North) arrested two individuals for Illegal recruitment and Estafa.
In a press release on Tuesday, the NBI said seven individuals issued a complaint against the two suspects, Girish Fuego and Glenmore Banagan. In a sworn statement, the complainants said one of them received a call from one of the suspects.
Fuego introduced herself as a recruitment agent from a certain company, stating she was recruiting skilled workers for deployment to Austria. The former added that qualified applicants would be receiving around P100,000 monthly salary. Due to this, the NBI stated that the complainant manifested his desire to apply for the position of mason.
Moreover, the plaintiff paid a total of P166,600 for the alleged medical, processing fee, working visa, travel insurance, placement fee, and plane tickets.
Despite this, the complainant was told that the employer in Austria had refused to issue a work permit, and he would be deployed to Croatia as a factory assistant instead. The complainant, including other applicants, stayed at Fuego’s house in General Trias, Cavite.
The applicants later met Banagan who introduced himself as a representative from a foreign recruitment agency, and the one responsible for finding employers for Filipino recruits. According to the NBI, Banagan took all of the applicants’ passports, stating it was for their Visa application and the issuance of an Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC).
The applicants stayed at the house for several weeks and waited for their employment documents. After a year, the victims sought the assistance of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW). According to the latter, the individuals were not licensed nor authorized by the agency to recruit workers for employment abroad.
The DMW also found no employment records with the agencies that Fuego and Banagan claim to be a part of. Last February, the CAVIDO North Agents hatched an entrapment operation to arrest the two suspects.
After their arrest, Banagan confessed he was also prosecuted and arrested for large-scale illegal recruitment in Batangas and Marinduque.
The suspects were presented for inquest proceedings for the violation of Section 5 R.A. 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, and Estafa under Article 315 paragraph 2(a) of the Revised Penal Code.
The two individuals were arrested by the NBI-CAVIDO North, under the supervision of NBI Director Judge Jaime Santiago (Ret.).
