9 ‘illegal recruiters’ hauled to court

Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office also files estafa charges vs. accused for dangling jobs in US

NINE persons will face trial after the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office charged them with large-scale illegal recruitment and estafa.

The accused allegedly offered five victims with non-existent work in the United States in exchange of P224,000.

Cebu City Prosecutor Noel Cellona found enough evidence to indict Francisco Batongbakal Jr., Fernando Geronimo, Anna Lisa Samson, Cynthia Mateo, Ronualdo Geronimo, Van Liwanag, Alisha Batac, Jess Miniano and Daisy Ibarra with five counts of estafa and large-scale illegal recruitment.

The accused are the alleged operators of Global Alliance Consultancy and Immigration Specialist Inc. and United Alliance Consultancy.

An unlicensed person involved in recruitment is punished under Section 6 of Republic Act 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.

The provision also states that when illegal recruitment is committed against three or more persons, “it is deemed committed in large scale, constituting economic sabotage.”

Bail

The estafa cases are bailable at P46,000 each, but the illegal recruitment cases are not.

Last March and February, the nine accused were also charged in court with 19 counts of estafa and five counts of largescale illegal recruitment.

For the recent cases, the complainants are Cerila Mae Lagare, Llora Paz Torlao, Cloudy Rain Torlac, Rhea Villafuerte and Sunshine San Juan.

The accused never returned the money they took from the victims, after promising to pay their salary ranging from P60,000 to P80,000 per month.

“Up to the present, the promised deployment to the United States of America never materialized,” the complaint read.

In an earlier report, Batongbakal, the alleged leader, also faced six illegal recruitment cases in two Quezon City courts, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration issued a certification that Batongbakal and his cohorts are not licensed to recruit any person to work abroad.

Last year, the NBI 7 arrested the two Geronimos, Samson and Liwanag based on the arrest warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 7 Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr.

Samson and Ronualdo were caught inside a mall in Manila last Aug. 3, after they left the Department of Justice premises where they attended a hearing for another case, also involving illegal recruitment.

Batongbakal and Liwanag were arrested in Manila 14 days later.