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Travel agency worker linked to Filipino in China's death row arrested


Immigration and airport officials have arrested a man from the travel agency allegedly responsible for sending to China Sally Ordinario Villanueva, one of the Filipinos sentenced to death for drug trafficking. Assistant City Prosecutor Jonathan Lledo, national unit head of the Inter-Agency Council Task Force Against Trafficking (IACAT), said on Tuesday that authorities nabbed Jose Bernardino Batnag at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Monday night. Batnag, an employee of Winluck Travel and Tours, was reportedly "caught in the act" of facilitating the departure of four women to be trafficked to China, according to Lledo. Lledo added that Winluck Travel and Tours may be the agency that sent Villanueva to China in 2008. "After closer to investigation, we have reason to believe this is the agency responsible for facilitating the exit of Sally Ordinario Villanueva, the Filipino overseas worker now convicted in China and [who received] the death penalty," Lledo told reporters at the Department of Justice (DOJ). State Prosecutor Susan Villanueva will hold inquest proceedings to determine whether there is probable cause to file charges against Batnag for violating the Anti-Trafficking Law and the Migrant Workers Act. Arresting recuiters On Tuesday, Lledo said Binay had taken a "special interest" in arresting the recruiters and agents who were responsible for sending the three Filipinos to China with illegal drugs in tow. Sally Ordinario Villanueva and two other Filipinos — Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain — were supposed to have been executed in China in February. However, through the intervention of Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay, Chinese authorities deferred their execution. The three Filipinos were allegedly recruited by foreign drug syndicates, said to include certain Nigerians and West Africans. – VVP, GMA News

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