3 Pinoys stand trial in Texas for ‘smuggling’ teachers from RP

Three Filipinos are standing trial in the United States for allegedly illegally "importing" school teachers from the Philippines between 2002 and 2004.

The prosecution rested its case last week against Noel Cedro Tolentino, his wife Angelica and his mother Florita – all officials of the OMNI Consortium based in Houston, Texas – after more than one month of presenting evidence against them, according to the Texas El Paso Times’ online edition.

The Tolentinos were indicted on about 40 counts, including conspiracy to smuggle aliens, visa fraud and money laundering.

They allegedly smuggled 273 Filipino teachers into the US from 2002 to 2004, and fewer than 100 had jobs waiting for them, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

The jury will hear the Tolentinos’ side starting March 19.

The evidence against the Tolentinos include a series of alleged junkets to the Philippines, all-expense-paid trips during which school administrators were expected to offer teaching jobs in Texas.

Ron Ederer, Noel’s lawyer, took exception to the government’s claim that the trips were bribes, saying that to consider these trips as bribes "is a real stretch."

Among the key witnesses against the Tolentinos are officials from several El Paso school districts who hired some Filipino teachers.

The El Paso Times reported that last year, Mario Aguilar, former superintendent of the Socorro Independent School District (SISD), pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of failing to report gifts, including a trip to China within a trip to the Philippines, to a public official and was sentenced to one year of probation.

Aguilar’s wife, Vista del Sor Elementary School principal Magdalena Aguilar, was also sentenced to one year of probation for receiving a gift.

Former Ysleta Independent School District associate superintendent for human resources Raye Lokey was sentenced to six months of probation for aiding illegal entry.

The Tolentinos’ lawyers said the trips to the Philippines were working trips.

Prosecutor Bill Lewis said SISD officials who went on the trip testified there was an understanding that each had to sign 10 letters of intent to hire during the trip.

Lewis said the letters were used by OMNI to file I-129 petitions for H-1B work visas in the United States.

However, school districts subsequently scaled down their request for teachers. The Brownsville Independent School originally wanted to hire 55 teachers, but later said it will hire only 19. Rather than canceling the H-1B application for unwanted teachers, Lewis said Tolentino continued the process.

"The US Embassy in the Philippines issued visas for jobs that did not exist. That’s fraud," Lewis said, adding that the teachers did not know they would end up coming to the US illegally.

According to the indictment, the would-be teachers had taken out loans to pay the $10,000 OMNI was charging each of them.

When the Brownsville teachers arrived in the US, Noel took them to job fairs in El Paso, where some of them found jobs.

OMNI provided teachers for the Socorro, Ysleta, Canutillo and El Paso school districts, the El Paso Times reported.

Chris Antcliff, Angelica’s lawyer, said his client is innocent. He believes the prosecutors have not established "that any teacher came to the US illegally."