



QUEZON CITY, Philippines — Thirty (30) Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have filed a report with the Task Force Against Human Smuggling of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) against an online illegal recruiter who promised them jobs in different countries.

Alleged illegal recruiter, Cindy Lapura from Calumpit, Bulacan purportedly worked with her husband, Jayson Mercado in scamming over P500,000 from the 30 OFW victims.

One of the victims, alias ‘Angel’ recalled that she met Lapura on Facebook last October 2018 who had advertisements of overseas jobs posted in her profile.

Mindanao resident, Angel said the difficult life in the province pushed her to apply and contact Lapura.

“Mataas iyong sahod na offer niya nasa P60,000 as a housekeeping po iyon. Ngayon umuwi ako ng Mindanao para doon nalang sana maghintay ng visa pero tinawagan niya kami kasi daw direct hire nga daw. Kung gusto ko makaalis talaga kailangan na magbigay kami ng pera sa kanya,” said Angel. (She was offering a high salary of P60,000 in housekeeping. I went home to Mindanao to wait for my visa there but she called us saying the job was direct hiring and if we really want to leave the country, we have to pay her.)

She sold several of her farm animals and even pawned their land in order to pay Lapura. She was scheduled to leave the country on December 28, 2018 to work as a helper in New Zealand.

Another victim, alias “Annabelle”, had a similar experience. She was scheduled to fly to China to work as a helper but her flight was postponed twice.

“Iyong asawa ko alam nila na naloko ako pero yung mga kamag-anak ko alam nila nakaalis na ako,” Annabelle said (My husband knew I was scammed but my family thought I already left).

The victims decided to meet up after one of them posted about Lapura’s mode of operation and filed a report with DOLE.

Lapura is still being hunted down by authorities and is already facing charges of Large Scale Illegal Recruitment. If proven guilty, she will be sentenced to lifetime imprisonment.

DOLE Usec. Jacinto Paras reminds the public not to be easily be fooled by online recruitment.

“Unang una po, they should not depend on the Facebook kasi may mga addresses iyong mga legal na iyan. So if we’re them dapat puntahan nila mismo iyong legitimate na opisina,” Paras said. (First of all, they should not depend on the Facebook because legal recruitment companies have addresses. So if we are them, they should visit their legitimate office.) —Aileen Cerrudo with reports from JL Asayo

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