Suspected illegal recruiter nabbed in Mandaluyong

MANILA, Philippines - Police arrested a suspected illegal recruiter in a raid in Mandaluyong City for allegedly duping a jobseeker of P600,000 since last year.

Senior Superintendent Ronald Estilles, chief of the Anti-Organized Crime Division-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said John Guillermo, 31, was apprehended in an entrapment at the food court of a Mandaluyong mall.

Complainant Evangeline Esmeralda identified Guillermo, who has listed addresses in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte and Calixto Dyco street in Paco, Manila.

Estilles said Guillermo allegedly recruited the complainant for a job in Spain in January 2010, but demanded P600,000 in placement and visa processing fees.

Esmeralda said she was in Cyprus at the time but they exchanged text messages.

In May 2010, Esmeralda went home to the Philippines and met the recruiter, who demanded P300,000 as initial payment for the processing of her visa.

The woman said she deposited P100,000 in a bank in Carmen, Pangasinan  Branch but upon getting the money, Guillermo said the fees increased to P600,000.

She told probers that she paid the fee in installments but after a year her deployment to Spain did not materialize.

Esmeralda said she went to the police when Guillermo sent her a text message last May 31 demanding P10,000 for him to return her passport.