DMW chief tells USec to investigate ‘illegal’ recruitment of OFWs to Canada
Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople has confirmed an investigation into the alleged illegal recruitment and attempted trafficking of overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong to Canada.
“I am very much interested in that case, and I have asked Undersecretary Hans Cacdac to look into it,” said Secretary Ople during today’s online briefing of Filipino community leaders in Asia on the new OFW Pass.
Ople also noted that The SUN’s editor, lawyer Daisy Mandap, had alerted her about the case.
She added that all legal matters pertaining to OFWs, including the possibility of hiring a legal retainer in Hong Kong for cases, would be handled by USec Cacdac. Matters relating to the illegal operations of recruiters are dealt with by USec Bernardo Olalia.
Separately, USec Cacdac assured The SUN that they were seriously looking into the human trafficking or cross-country allegation against the Philippines-based group led by a barangay captain in Cebu, Prisca Nina Mabatid, saying the DMW is “averse” to such activities.
As a follow-up to the initial inquiry held by Consulate officers on June 25, the complainants were recently asked to provide more details to the DMW’s Migrant Workers Office about their claims.
Police officers also scheduled another interview with the claimants after Mabatid failed to show up at the Consulate on the same day, reneging on her promise to return the workers’ money.
The DMW chief was responding to a question from Ester Bangcawayan of the Mission of Migrant Workers regarding the Department’s action on a letter sent by 11 alleged victims in Hong Kong of Mabatid’s PCVC.
Bangcawayan is one of two case officers helping the complainants who mostly paid HK$18,700 (about Php131,000) to PCVC in February this year, after Mabatid personally came to Hong Kong to entice them to apply for student visas to Canada.
The applicants said that after paying the processing fee upfront, they were given a list of requirements that made them realize they could not qualify for the promised visa, or would not be able to earn enough to sustain living there even if they worked the allowed 20 hours a week.
Two balked when they realized Mabatid had tricked them into paying up by promising to lend each one of them Php1 million.
One said she was told she would have to provide an “alibi” as to how she got to have this much money in her bank account all of a sudden, while another realized the money would just be put there to trick the Canadian government into giving them a student visa.
When they tried to ask for a refund because of the false promises given them, they were reminded that they had signed an agreement which barred them from asking for their money back, or from filing a lawsuit against the company.
Also named in the complaint were Mabatid’s partner, lawyer Russ Mark Gamallo, who did half of the recruitment pitch; two unnamed female staff members who collected the applicants’ money, and OFW driver and blogger Bryan Calagui who was tapped to promote the group’s activities in Hong Kong.
The group held another recruitment drive at the same venue on June 18, which was disrupted when the complainants called the police in, saying the group being mostly tourists, were conducting an illegal activity. They also demanded to get their money back.
Calagui left before the police arrived while Mabatid was forced to cancel her presentation so she could talk to the police. Only Gamallo was left inside the venue to continue the orientation.
After about three hours of negotiations the police let Mabatid go after she promised to go to the Consulate the next Sunday to return the applicants’ money. But the investigating officer told the complainants that they should go back to the police if Mabatid failed to comply with her undertaking.
In a defiant Facebook post on June 22, or three days before she was meant to face her accusers at the Consulate, Mabatid posted a video of her showing off her luxurious bus, which she captioned with: “Ready nako mo share sa akong tinagu-an (I am now ready to share where I hid) I got arrested in my bus not in HK,” with the hash tag “therealthing”.
On June 19, she also did a live interview with Calagui on Facebook while she was at Hong Kong airport about to fly back to the Philippines. She did not deny recruiting OFWs to move to Canada as students, but claimed that they were not genuine complaints against her and her company.
She brushed off the claims by some of the applicants as politically motivated, saying she and Calagui are known to be pro-government while her perceived enemies are on the opposite side of the fence.
However, all the 11 applicants who signed the complaints against them have told Consulate officials that they were enticed to apply because they shared Calagui’s politics and followed his blogs regularly.
Despite denying that she was given a list of the complainants, Mabatid’s staff began contacting the applicants by phone before the Consulate meeting. The only one who took the call and recorded it was told Mabatid decided not to go back to Hong Kong on the advice of her lawyers.
The caller who identified herself as being with PCVC, also dared the complainants to sue them, but warned that they could only do it in Cebu, as that is where they are based.
On June 28, Mabatid posted photos of her and Calagui with former presidential spokesman Harry Roque meeting with the top officials of the Consulate. She captioned this “a meet and greet with DMW and Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong.
Asked about the photos which seemed to suggest that the recruiters had the Consulate’s blessings, Consul General Raly Tejada said it was a simple courtesy call by Roque and no one else.
In her post, Mabatid pitched another call for Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong to continue trusting them and Canada’s ability to give them a good life, and not listen to those who just want to pull them down.
At the same time, she warned her detractors that she will just see them in court “sa daming kasong sinampa namin.” (because of the many cases we have filed against them). However, she did not specify who were the people she was suing, and for what.
She also took time to praise Calagui, saying “nobody can put a good man down, remember that.” (Her partner, Gamallo, earlier told the complainants they were distancing themselves from Calagui because they had heard so many complaints against him)
Mabatid also mentioned that she was setting up an office in Hong Kong soon to better service her clients at wala nang mang-aapak sa amin (so no one would look down on us again).
To this, one of her determined complainants warned, “Tingnan lang natin.” (Let us see).