Senate to resume inquiry into student visa ‘scam’ as support groups vow to keep up fight

 

'Justice for the victims' was the vow of advocates against Mabatid and her co-horts

The Senate inquiry into the alleged fraud and illegal recruitment of some 150 Filipinos for student visas to Canada, will resume after the plenary sessions.

This was the assurance given by staff of the Senate Committee on Migrant Workers headed by Senator Raffy Tulfo, to complainants against former Cebu City Councillor Prisca Nina Mabatid and two companies associated with her, PinoyCare Visa Center and Opportunities Abroad.

The staff also said the Committee is taking note of recent posts made by Mabatid on social media, castigating Senator Tulfo for supposedly ditching their friendship and her support of him during the election, in pursuit of the complaints against her.

PINDUTIN DITO

“We take note of the post and rest assured that we will tackle this when the committee hearings will resume, after the plenary break. We shall keep you posted,” said the staff.

Mabatid has been issued with a show-cause order to explain her absence in the two past hearings of the case conducted by the Senate committee, or she will be held in contempt.

The Immigration Department hals also told the committee they have put Mabatid in their watchlist for people departing the country.

Meanwhile, supporters of the complainants from the Mission for Migrant Workers, United Filipinos – Migrante Hong Kong and Migrante International, have vowed to keep up their efforts to pursue the cases against Mabatid and company until justice is served to her alleged victims.

TAWAG NA!

MFMW case officer Edwina Antonio said there are now a total of 26 complainants against Mabatid, PCVC and Opportunies, as well as her partner Russ Mark Gamallo and OFW blogger Bryan Calagui, who stood as their promoter in Hong Kong.

Each paid at least HK$18,731 (about Php132,000) on the promise, recorded extensively on video, that they could get their student visas to Canada in three months, and should not worry about expenses as they would be able to work for five days and attend classes for only two days each week.

Including the 150 complainants across the Philippines and overseas, the amount involved in the so-called scam should be no less than P15 million.

Migrante affiliates are set to hold more protest actions urging national govt to take action

Speaking at a live broadcast of The SUN on Friday, April 6, Antonio said the Hong Kong Police is taking the case seriously, and has called the complainants one by one to ask them to go to their North Point station to make a statement.

The Hong Kong Immigration Department is also looking into allegations that  Mabatid and Gamallo who came here as tourists in February and June last year had violated their visa conditions by organizing recruitment seminars for some 1,000 Filipino migrants here.

Calagui, who works as a domestic helper with driving duties, has also been invited by Immigration for an investigation twice, into whether he took up illegal work when he actively promoted Mabatid’s recruitment operations in Hong Kong, said Antonio.

PINDUTIN DITO

“We are also continuing to liaise with the Police and the Philippine Consulate General on the case,” said Antonio, who added that during a meeting held last month, Consul General Germinia Aguilar-Usudan assured them of her full support.

Antonio paid tribute to the Hong Kong migrant workers who have stepped forward to complain about the alleged scam, despite their limited free time, and the threats they received from a lawyer and staff of the two visa consulting companies.

“So hindi tayo titigil kasi ang mga  biktima ay nandyan lagi at kasama natin sa labang ito,” said Antonio. (So we will keep this up because the victims are standing by and are with us in this fight).

Dolores Balladares, chair of Unifil-Migrante Hong Kong, said protest actions that focus on the illegal recruitment and human trafficking of migrant workers will continue, with a big one being set for Labor Day, May 1.

“Isasama natin sa protesta ang kaso laban kay Mabatid,” said Balladares (We will include in the protest the case against Mabatid).

Before this major rally, she said her group will take other actions during the weekend to sustain the demand that all the concerned agencies and even the national government itself, should take immediate action on the case.

MFMW’s general manager Cynthia Tellez also called on the victims not to lose interest in the case to ensure their victory.

“Huwag maiiinip, huwag tatahimik, kasi kapag tayo ay tumahimik ay gagalaw na naman sila,” said Tellez. (Don’t lose your patience, don’t keep quiet, because if you keep quiet they will start moving on us again).

“Ang titiyakin namin ay hindi kami titigil,” she added (We assure you that we will not stop fighting, either).

Tellez also warned the public against disinformation and victim blaming, saying these are being done by the other side to sow discord among the complainants.

All the advocates expressed gratitude to Senator Tulfo for stepping in and bringing the apparently massive scam to public notice, but said they were disappointed by the other government department’s failure to take immediate action.

“Kung nakita mo na parang may itinatagong impormasyon,  dapat ang gobyerno na ang makialam,” said Tellez, referring to the unclear messages being relayed to the complainants on the status of their case by the Department of Migrant Workers and the National Bureau of Investigation.

Mabatid promised them work despite offering student visas, said the complainants

One of the complainants who testified in the Senate committee hearing, Cherryl Genobebe, recalled that despite being thrown off by a long list of requirements that Mabatid’s group emailed to her after she had paid the $18,731 fee, she persisted, thinking that what she was being offered was genuine.

But after completing the requirements she was told she needed to pay another P100,000 to a school she did not have direct contact with. When she asked whether she could charge this against the P1 million loan that Mabatid promised them during the orientation, she was thrown another wrench, that she needed to provide an “alibi” as to why such a big amount of money had suddenly popped up in her bank account.

That was when she realized she had been taken for a ride, said Genobebe.

In Hong Kong, protest actions such as this will continue

Another complainant, Jackie, said she had taken the initiative of emailing the Presidential Action Center to follow up on the case, and an NBI agent with the anti-human trafficking division sent her a reply, asking for relevant documents to be forwarded to them.

Jackie said she responded by saying all the information about the case had already been sent to DMW, which then forwarded them to the NBI, along with a recommendation for the filing of charges.

The NBI agent reportedly told Jackie she would look into their office files and get back to her. 

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