Cops nab secretary of 'illegal recruiter'

Elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group arrested the other day a woman who allegedly worked as secretary for an illegal recruiter during an entrapment operation in an uptown department store.

Rosarita de los Santos, 33, a resident of B. Aranas Street, barangay San Nicolas, is now detained in the CIDG detention cell following her arrest Monday afternoon. She is facing charges for allegedly violating Republic Act 8042 known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1999.

De los Santos reportedly works as the secretary of Marilyn Salinas, alias Marilyn Chan -an alleged illegal recruiter who is still at large. Police are also preparing separate charges against Salinas.

C/Insp. Rex Derilo said that around 9 a.m. last Monday, six persons came to their office to ask assistance over the illegal recruitment activity of Salinas and De los Santos.

Derilo said the victims claimed that Salinas and De los Santos recruited the victims for jobs abroad and collected as much as P5,000 to P32,000 from them as placement and processing fees.

Salinas, who introduced herself as cousin of one of the victims, allegedly enticed them that she is into direct hiring of employees for high-earning jobs abroad as she owns a nursing and care-giving center in Canada.

But despite the repeated demands, the suspects reportedly failed to provide them with the necessary papers to work abroad.

When De los Santos sought for a meeting inside a coffee shop of an uptown department store, one of the victims, Stella Marie Campos, then went to CIDG for assistance.

De los Santos allegedly asked earlier for an undisclosed amount to expedite their applications. Campos accepted De los Santos' invitation but then closely coordinated with the team of Derilo, who used P500 worth of P100 bills laced with ultra-violet powder as marked money.

When De los Santos accepted the marked money inside the coffee shop, Derilo's team immediately arrested her. The operation was recorded through a video camera used by police showing De los Santos accepting the marked money from Campos.

Victims Thelma Magno and Miharama Gera claimed to have paid P10,000 each to the suspects for their applications. Another victim, Erwin Polancos, who appeared at the CIDG office later yesterday, claimed that he paid P10,000 to the suspects for his working papers abroad.

During the investigation, De los Santos strongly denied that she was involved in recruiting applicants for jobs abroad, claiming that she was also a victim of Salinas's illegal activities.

In an interview with The Freeman, De los Santos said she gave Salinas P7,500 as application payment for a care-giving job in Canada.

She claimed that Salinas enticed her to leave her job as a manager of a furniture and appliance center since she will fly to Canada this August.

Nevertheless, Derilo said they would still file charges against De los Santos. - Jose P. Sollano and Edwin Ian Melecio