Jordanian arrested for illegal recruitment

June 12, 2009, MANILA, Philippines—Immigration agents have arrested a Jordanian man accused of running an illegal recruitment operation in the Philippines, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.

Faris Al-Kawadri, 29, was nabbed Monday inside his hotel room in Makati City, the bureau’s intelligence and security chief, Alberto Braganza, said.

The agency said Al-Kawadri was responsible for the illegal deployment of Filipino women to Middle East.

The BI official said they found the passports of three women from Mindanao in the suspect’s room.

“He will thus be deported for working here without the required permit and visa and for being an undesirable alien,” Braganza said.

When asked about the passports, Al-Kawadri said the travel documents were given to him by a placement agency based in Ermita for processing. The three women who owned the passports were supposed to leave for Saudi Arabia as contract workers, he said.

Aside from the illegal recruitment charges, Al-Kawadri was also accused of maltreating his Filipino wife.

Al-Kawadri’s wife reported his activities to bureau and helped in his arrest.

In her complaint, Al-Kawadri’s wife alleged that her husband abandoned her and their one-and-a-half-year-old son for one year without giving any support. Kristine L. Alave, Philippine Daily Inquirer