By Daisy CL Mandap
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| USec Cacdac (head of table) meets with complainants at the DMW office in Pasig City |
A team from the
Department of Migrant Workers will be in Hong Kong this weekend to investigate
the complaints filed by nine Filipino domestic workers against a Cebu-based group
that allegedly collected a total sum of HK$138,000 (about Php1million) from
them, in the guise of offering them student visas to Canada.
The team, headed by DMW Assistant Secretary Francis
Ron de Guzman, will interview the complainants directly and collect their
evidence, which include receipts issued by the PinoyCare Visa
Centre-Opportunities Abroad Visa Processing Services founded and headed by
former Cebu City Councillor Prisca Nina Mabatid.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE! |
The complainants, most of whom paid HK$18,731 each for
the promised student visas, will also hand over video clips of the recruitment
pitch made by Mabatid and her partner, lawyer Russ Mark Gamallo, on February 19
this year, during which they both assured the applicants they could work and
earn enough to cover all their expenses while studying in Canada.
Also named in their complaint is their fellow FDW,
Bryan A. Calagui, a pro-government blogger whose
online promotion of the PCVC-OAVPS recruitment and assurances that it was a
legitimate operation, lured them into the alleged scam.
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| Mabatid (in white) tries to fend off HK complainants who called the police for help in June |
Ahead of the DMW team’s visit, a representative of the
complainants joined Migrante International, which is representing about 20 other
alleged victims of Mabatid’s group, in a meeting with DMW Usec Hans Cacdac at
his office in Pasig City to personally relay their grievance.
At the August 4 meeting, USec Cacdac assured the
complainants that the DMW was committed to helping them pursue justice.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
“There is no question that we are joining you in this
advocacy,” Cacdac told them. “We are sending it (the case) to the NBI because
we think there is probable cause.”
The DMW official said they had to involve the
National Bureau of Investigation because they needed a law enforcement arm in
pursuing the case against PCVC-OAVPS, Mabatid and her group.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
The case that will be filed for those who claim to
have been victimized in the Philippines would be large-scale illegal
recruitment and/or syndicated estafa, while for the OFW applicants, the more suitable
charge will be human trafficking.
Cacdac explained that the DMW legal team had agreed
that illegal recruitment cannot be filed on behalf of the OFWs as they were no
longer in the Philippines when the alleged offense happened.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
He also mentioned that the fact that the group was not
licensed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) made them
liable for illegal recruitment, even if what they were offering ostensibly were
student visas and not jobs.
Cacdac said “badges of fraud” were present in the
case, including the assurance that the victims could work and earn enough to
cover all their expenses while studying in Canada, that they need not worry
about the academic requirements and financial capacity involved, and that the visa processing would
take only three months.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
According to the Hong Kong complainants, Mabatid told
them during the February recruitment that the easiest pathway to attaining
immigrant status in Canada is through the student visa scheme. She assured them
it was easy to get the visa, and they need not even pass the IELTS (International
English Language Testing System).
She downplayed their reservation about the financial
requirements, saying she would lend them HK$1 million each as “settlement fund”,
which they could use to convince Canadian authorities they had the means to
finance their studies for one year.
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She also claimed that they need not worry about their
food and lodging as her group’s “successful applicants” who are now in Canada,
would take them in.
Together with Gamallo, she told the audience that they would not only be able to work to pay for their studies, they would be able to save enough to continue providing for their families.
Even better, they could
bring their immediate family members so that they could all enjoy the benefits
of living in Canada.
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| BASAHIN ANG DETALYE |
But as soon as they paid the “promotional fee” of
$18,731 within three days of the recruitment, the applicants said
they were sent a list of requirements which made them realize immediately that
there was no way they could qualify for the visa.
Most of them immediately asked for a refund, but were reminded that they had signed a "memorandum of agreement" specifying that the fee was non-refundable. If they persisted in claiming their money, they could be sued, the group allegedly warned them.
At least one of them persevered, but after completing
all the requirements, was stonewalled when she asked about the promised
$1million loan from Mabatid. She said that was when she realized that the whole
thing was a scam, that the group did not really intend to help any of the OFW
applicants secure what was promised them.
The group managed to call the police to investigate their complaint when Mabatid and company returned to Hong Kong on June 18 for a new recruitment round. To get off the police investigation, Mabatid promised to return the complainants' money the next Sunday, but scooted home just a few days later.
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| PADALA NA! |
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