Recruiter of stranded Pinoys in Vietnam placed under BI watch list

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Saturday said it has placed under its watch list a Filipino businesswoman who allegedly recruited several compatriots for non-existent jobs in Vietnam. Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan identified the suspected illegal recruiter as Melchora Gabog, who is now based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Gabog can now be prevented from traveling out of the country to prevent her from victimizing more Filipinos seeking work abroad., he said. Libanan said he was acting on a recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which said Gabog has been the subject of complaints by the Philippine Embassy in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam. “Our campaign against illegal recruitment and human trafficking is not limited to blacklisting foreigners engaged in these nefarious activities. Filipinos who engage in the same scheme and victimize their own countrymen should also be made answerable for their offense," the BI chief stressed. In a letter to the BI, Ma. Agnes Cervantes of the DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs cited a complaint to the embassy from Rowena Guillermo, who claimed that Gabog arranged for her to travel to Vietnam where she was promised a job. Guillermo is still stranded in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) along with six other Filipinos who were likewise alleged duped by Gabog to travel to Vietnam . Quoting a report from Laura del Rosario, the Philippine Ambassador to Vietnam, Guillermo said she paid Gabog US$100 only to find out when she was in Ho Chi Minh that her recruiter had also “hired" six other Filipinos and made them to stay in a rented house. Several other would-be OFWs also reportedly joined them in the rented apartment a few days later and all of them claimed they paid Gabog placement fees of between P20,000 to P30,000 each for their trip. The embassy report said Gabog has been unsuccessful in finding jobs for her recruits. - GMANews.TV