Police arrest two Japanese, six Filipinos for alleged illegal recruitment

July 20, 2018

Police criminal investigators on Friday arrested  two Japanese nationals and six Filipinos accused of running an illegal recruitment firm in Quezon City.

Operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Anti-Transnational Crime Unit (ATCU) apprehended the suspects in a raid at the Kanzai Training Center in Barangay South Triangle around 1:30 p.m.

The two Japanese refused to talk to journalists.

Police took the suspects into custody after one of them accepted P12,000 in marked money from an alleged victim.

Superintendent Roque Merdegia, ATCU head, said the operation stemmed from complaints of five people who claimed they were asked by suspects to give P30,000 each in exchange for jobs as caregivers in Japan.

“The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) endorsed the victims to us who were promised jobs by the Kanzai Training Center,” he said in an interview with reporters.

Merdegia said the suspects would recruit people from the provinces to enroll in their training center to be sent to Japan as caregivers.

“The money which the victims gave is for the training fee, visa processing and other expenses needed to Japan,” he said.

After the training, the recruits will have to take another exam and they have to pay 5000 ( pesos) for it, a CIDG statement said. "This prompted them to verify from POEA  on the legality of the Center to recruit workers. The POEA certified that Kanzai is not licensed to recruit," the CIDG statement said/

One of the female victims who spoke on condition of anonymity said the suspects went to several provinces in Mindanao  sometime February this year for an orientation.

The woman, a resident of Davao City, said she was enticed to enroll at the training center because the suspects promised them jobs in Japan.

Other victims claimed the suspects said they will go to Japan by July. They became suspicious no travel papers came.  DMS