June 17, 2009, MANILA, Philippines—Police on Tuesday rescued 97 victims of illegal recruitment after months of being forced to stay inside a training center in Manila, a police official said on Wednesday.
Director Raul Castaneda, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said the victims were rescued at Da Farmers Training Center Corporation in San Andres Bukid, Sta. Ana, where they were forced to stay while waiting for their papers to be processed.
Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, chief of the CIDG Anti-Transnational Crime Division, said the victims were brought from remote villages around the country to Manila with the promise of jobs in the Middle East particularly in Dubai, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait.
The recruitment firm, Al-Alamia International Manpower Services, is owned by a certain Ma. Dolores Elanany.
"They have been in the center for several months already and have incurred lots of expenses for their documents and yet it was unclear whether their trip will push through," Sosa said.
Earlier, 22 other victims of the firm approached the police for assistance.
Police, however, failed to arrest the owner of the recruitment agency.
The rescued victims of the recruitment firm were brought to the Visayan Forum Foundation.
Castaneda said police will be filing charges of violation of Republic Act 8042 (Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995), RA 9208 (Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003), and Article 315 (swindling) of the Revised Penal Code. - Abigail Kwok, INQUIRER.net
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