SIXTEEN persons were rescued from alleged illegal recruiters in Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City Sunday.
Joint operatives of Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) of the Bacolod City Police Office and Police Station 7 in coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) conducted the entrapment operation that led to the arrest of two recruiters, whose names were withheld by the police.
Senior Police Officer 4 Arlyn Torrendon, officer-in-charge of WCPD, said the entrapment operation came after they received an information from Buddy Acupan, regional coordinator of Visayan Forum Foundation Inc., that 70 persons were recruited to work in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Manila.
Torrendon said the suspects’ recruitment started in 2011, where they offered jobs to Negrenses to work in Manila, adding that expenses and accommodation are all free except that recruits were subjected to a drug test as part of the recruitment agency’s requirement.
The recruits were supposed to be sent to Manila to work at the PCSO, but upon the validation of the report, they found out that 16 of the 70 recruits will engage in illegal gambling operations in Manila.
Torrendon said they discovered that the two suspects are not authorized by Dole to recruit anyone to work with the PCSO.
Torrendon said they are preparing to file a case for large scale illegal recruitment against the two suspects, who are detained at Police Station 7.
Last week, 209 persons also complained that they were victimized by illegal recruitment after a certain Christopher Chavez offered them jobs for a local advertising agency.
The recruits lost P400,000 worth of recruitment fees after Chavez failed to meet them in their scheduled transaction on September 1.
Chief Inspector Benedicto Villarias Jr., head of Police Station 2, said the victims are planning to seek the help of the National Bureau of Investigation to locate the suspect.
