Married couple arrested in Rizal for alleged illegal recruitment

Authorities arrested a married couple in Rizal for allegedly engaging in illegal recruitment, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Thursday.

The suspects were nabbed on Wednesday for syndicated estafa, qualified attempted trafficking in person, qualified human trafficking, and large-scale illegal recruitment.

DMW said the suspects and their accomplices offered jobs in Canada on social media in exchange for a placement fee that ranged from P60,000 to P200,000.These jobs include fruit picking, housekeeping, food production, meat processing and hospitality management for salaries ranging from 1,500 to 4,000 Canadian dollars.

The suspects use local recruiters named “Sunrise Consultancy & Management (Sunrise)” and “Joyful Manpower Exponents (Joyful)” in Rodriguez, Rizal and overseas recruiters named “Ivouch Consultancy”and “JBG Manpower Consultancy” in Dubai.

The suspects receive P30,000 per applicant, who will pay the placement fee and undergo medical exams at Sunrise or Joyful.

According to the complainants, the recruiters promised them to show their visas and employment contracts during their pre-departure orientation seminar before leaving for Canada, which may happen at any time.

A total of 226 victims reported the suspects’ activities to the DMW.

Two of the suspects’ accomplices were arrested earlier.

The DMW called on the victims of the illegal recruiters to coordinate with the Migrant Workers Protection Bureau by sending an email to airtipinfo@dmw.gov.ph or a message to its Facebook page.
—Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News