Japanese man, 3 others nabbed for illegal recruitment

A Japanese man and three Filipinos were arrested for largescale illegal recruitment on Wednesday.

Language instructor Kenichi Sato, 63; administration registrar Cynthia Banares, 45; her son, language instructor Carlo Banares, 31, and office staff Jesse James Escalderon, 32, were arrested during a sting at the Japcom Training Center along T.M. Kalaw street in Ermita.

They reportedly duped around 200 jobseekers into paying up to P90,000 each to cover training and placement fees with the promise of jobs in Japan.

The entrapment was staged following complaints from around 35 persons claiming the suspects offered them nonexistent jobs in Japan, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) reported.

Also included in the complaint is Japcom Training Center’s president Teresita Hassan and five other employees.

Downgraded

Charisse Mendiola and other victims who went to the Manila Police District (MPD) complained about the delay in the release of a resolution by Manila 1senior assistant prosecutor Cecilia Parallag.

“She only qualifies this as estafa when in fact we filed large-scale illegal recruitment case against (the suspects),” Mendiola told The STAR.

She also hoped that more victims would come forward to strengthen the case against the suspects.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration records show Japcom is not licensed to conduct training and recruitment for jobs abroad.

During the sting, Banares, as registrar, received P26,000 in marked money as additional payment from one of the victims,

The transaction was witnessed by Sato and the two other suspects, the CIDG said.

One of the complainants, Charisse Mendiola, said they were promised work at a ramen factory with a monthly salary of up to P69,000.

She said they were promised training in Nihonggo but were only given online manuals. They had to learn on their own despite the agency having language instructors, she added.

The complainants said they were supposed to fly to Japan last September but they could not contact the suspects. –