Couple who ‘tricked’ house helpers being hunted down

CEBU, Philippines - Following the court’s issuance of an arrest warrant, authorities are now looking for the couple who allegedly enticed two women to work for them but did not give benefits as promised.

Regional Trial Court Judge Ramon Daomilas of Branch 11 has ordered the arrest of John Philip Belotendos and Gine Rose Gamorez who are facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 and of RA 10361 or the Domestic Workers Act.

However, the accused are still on the loose and were not reportedly found in their latest known address in Cebu when the police served the warrant.

In a seven-page resolution, Assistant Prosecutor Genevieve Tabada of the Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor indicted Belotendos and Gamorez after finding probable cause in the charges filed against them.

The FREEMAN is withholding the names of the complainants, who are natives of Mindoro, to protect their identities.

“Clearly, respondents deceived (the victims) into working for them, enticing them with benefits that they had no intention of providing in the first place,” the document read.

The resolution further stated that the “respondents extracted work and imposed and enforced compulsory service (from the victims) by means of enticement, threat, and deception.”

The complainants alleged that the couple recruited them in June 2013 to work in Taguig.

One of the complainants was reportedly recruited by Gamorez as a house helper and nanny of her two children with an P1,800 monthly compensation which will be increased six months after, a cell phone with free load every week, and education support.

The complainant then tapped her aunt after Gamorez told her that her officemate was also looking for a house helper.

Two days after arriving in Taguig, the aunt left Gamorez’s officemate who allegedly did not honor the monthly salary of P3,000 as she was originally told.

She borrowed money from Gamorez to pay for her fare back to Mindoro but the latter refused and instead, offered her to stay with them as a house helper for six months with a monthly pay of P1,500.

On December 26, 2013, Belotendos allegedly forced the two complainants to drink beer, and then attempted to have sex with the younger complainant.

From Taguig, the couple transferred to Davao City, to Mandaue City in Cebu, then to Barangay Tayud, Consolacion, Cebu.

The younger complainant said she was sexually abused for the second time on June 30, 2014 when Belotendos asked her to massage him.

Since they arrived in Cebu, the couple allegedly did not pay the two complainants with their respective salaries.  — Grace Melanie I. Lacamiento/NSA (FREEMAN)