DMW, NBI take up complaints against Mabatid’s ‘illegal’ recruitment drive
About a dozen people claiming to be victims of large-scale illegal recruitment by PinoyCare Visa Centre and its chief executive officer Prisca Nina Mabatid trooped to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday to file complaints.
The group, accompanied by Migrante International representatives, said they paid at least Php104,000 each as processing fee for the Canadian student visa that Mabatid, through PCVC and another company she controls called Opportunities Abroad, had promised to secure for them within three months.
They claimed the recruiters have been luring and deceiving Filipinos throughout the Philippines, as well as overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore and other countries, into paying the processing fee before disclosing conditions that are difficult, even impossible, to meet.
This was contrary to the group’s initial promise to provide them help throughout the recruitment process, and their repeated assurances that they need not worry about having the right qualifications or financial capability to secure the visa.
When they asked for a refund, Mabatid and her staff reportedly turned hostile, and even threatened to sue them in court, using as an excuse the no-refund, no-lawsuit “memorandum of agreement” that they were forced to sign after they had paid for the processing fee in full.
“Nina Mabatid and her company have stolen millions of pesos from hard-working Filipinos and OFWS who dream of a better life and economic security. These amounts should be returned immediately to her victims. What she and her associates did is blatant illegal recruitment, if not human trafficking.” said Migrante International chairperson Joanna Concepcion.
“Mabatid peddled false and unrealistic promises. Despite the huge fees paid by the victims, their applications to Canada were never fully processed. The government should do something to protect our kababayans from such frauds,” Concepcion added.
Staff at DMW’s legal division said they would go over the complainants’ statements and arrange a full hearing later, while NBI promised quick action, said Concepcion.
The Migrante chair said it was surprising that despite countless complaints against Mabatid and her companies, they continue to openly organize and hold seminars throughout the country, often with help from local government officials and local PESO offices.
OFWs who mostly had to borrow the money they used to pay the processing fee said they were enticed by the promise personally made by Mabatid of an interest-free “loan” of P1 million which they were meant to present as proof to Canadian authorities of their financial capability.
All the disgruntled applicants said the open endorsements of Mabatid and PCVC-Opportunities Abroad by well-known personalities like Senator Raffy Tulfo, Atty. Gareth Tungol, and celebrity host Boy Abunda, also helped convince them that they were dealing with a legitimate group.
In Hong Kong, 11 applicants who had earlier filed complaints with the HK Police and the Philippine Consulate General said the aggressive promotion of OFW blogger Bryan Calagui encouraged them to pay Php131,000 each to PCVC-OA in just three days in February this year.
The complainants called the police after hearing that the group was holding another recruitment activity at Sunbeam Theater in North Point last June 18, but Mabatid was let off after she promised to return their money a week later at the Philippine Consulate.
When Mabatid failed to show up as promised, the complainants went back to the police, who said they would elevate the case to criminal investigators, and possibly the Immigration Department.
Meanwhile, the Consulate has begun its own inquiry after DMW Secretary Susan Ople asked for a thorough investigation of the complaint. She also named DMW Undersecretary Hans Cacdac as the officer in charge of the case.
Separately, Consul General Raly Tejada has denied meeting with Mabatid at the Consulate in April, saying she just happened to be in the company of former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque who asked to drop by for a courtesy call.
Congen Tejada was responding to queries about pictures shared by Mabatid on her Facebook account, which seemed to imply that her operations had the Consulate’s blessing.