Report: 26 Pinoys stranded in Malaysia after falling prey to 'agent'

Twenty-six Filipinos are now stranded in Malaysia after falling victim to an "agent" who also fleeced them of RM46,000 (P651,676) as early as two months ago, a Malaysia-based online news site said Tuesday. The Filipinos, eight of them women, said the "agent" collected the amount from them in exchange for helping them get work permits from the Immigration Department. "He promised us that he would solve our work permit problems," Dennis Maglasang Sabeliano, one of the Filipinos, said in an interview published in Malaysia's The Star on Tuesday. "But until today, we have not got anything back from him... We are worried because some of us have already overstayed. We cannot even renew the passports as the documents are with the man," he added. Sabeliano said they had already informed the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and met with state Immigration Department officials to explain their predicament. "We hope to get our passports and money back so that we can go home," the Star report quoted him as saying. According to Sabeliano, they handed over the money and their passports to the agent after a meeting on June 14, but did not hear from the agent for two months. Earlier this month, however, the agent returned and asked for another RM4,050 (P57,375) for medical checks required for the work permit. The group handed over the amount to the agent's "worker." But as the Filipinos had not heard from the agent again, they lodged a report at the Menggatal police station there on Aug 23. Sabeliano said they were sought the agent's help as most of them had relatives already working in Sabah. Many of them were planning to work in the service industry there, like hotels and restaurants. — RSJ, GMA News