By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Defendant Mila B. Fernandez admitted 9 counts relating to the illegal recruitment in Eastern Court |
A 45-year-old Filipina resident pleaded guilty Wednesday, June
2, in Eastern Court to nine charges relating to her recruitment of 26 people
for non-existent jobs and failing to refund the money they paid her.
Mila B. Fernandez admitted the charges in her first court
appearance since her separate arrests on Dec 13 last year and Feb 26 this year.
Magistrate Paul Yip ordered her remanded in custody before sentencing her on
Jun 16.
Yip has asked for a probation officer’s report, a community
service report and a background report before sentencing Fernandez. He also
said he will deal with a call for a compensation order on that day.
The defendant begged to be given a chance but the magistrate
said her case involved serious charges.
“Defendant, while on paper there seem to be only two
victims, in fact there are many more. Your sentence is still open,” Yip said.
The charges involved two counts of offering non-existent
jobs, two counts of misrepresenting herself as employee of two different
employment agencies, and five counts of offering but failing to give a full
refund of payments made by applicants.
The offenses took place between Jan 20, 2019 and Aug 31,
2020.
Customs and Excise prosecutors lumped all the charges under
one heading, “Applying a false trade description to a service supplied or
offered to be supplied to a consumer.”
Court records show that in December 2018, Fernandez met foreign
domestic worker Charito Delfino who had gone to ACJ Recruitment Services to
meet with her employer. Fernandez said she was a secretary of the company who
handled documents for Immigration processing.
In late January 2019, Delfino heard from a friend that the
defendant was finding applicants for job vacancies at a monthly salary of
$5,000 and food allowance of $1,100.
Fernandez told Delfino there were jobs for yacht cleaners,
dog walkers, and babysitters with processing to take 4 to 6 months. In all, 14
of Delfino’s kin were interested.
Fernandez said the placement fee was $3,500 upfront and $500
after the hired worker gets his first salary. On Feb 5, 2019, Delfino gave the
defendant $3,000 as down payment for two applicants. The defendant told Delfino
the payment would be refunded.
On Feb 10, Delfino, escorted by two friends, gave Fernandez $15,000
as down payment for 10 applicants. On Feb 17, they gave Fernandez a further $10,500
as down payment for one applicant and the outstanding payment for six others. No
receipts were issued.
In all, Delfino gave the defendant $28,500 and Php10,000 as
full payment for six applicants and down payment for 8 applicants.
Later, Fernandez collected documents from the 14 jobseekers,
but they discovered four months later that she had been dismissed by ACJ and
that the company did not handle the applications.
Fernandez contacted Delfino later, and said she had moved to
another employment agency, World Wide Company, and transferred all the
applications there.
Delfino demanded a refund of the money she paid but Fernandez
said she could only pay back in $1,500 installments, but she didn’t. On Oct 27,
Delfino complained to the Consulate and a meeting was set for Sept 1 but the
defendant didn’t appear.
As none of the 14 applications succeeded, Delfino filed a
complaint at Customs & Excise and Fernandez was arrested on Feb 26 this
year.
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| The duped jobseekers were male relatives of 2 Filipina DHs |
Another victim, helper Arlene Alday, reported that she met
Fernandez after a friend told her about Fernandez recruiting applicants for the
same jobs that she offered Delfino.
The defendant told Alday she had worked for World Wide Consultancy
Agency for 16 years and sent her the address of the company. She later called
Alday and told her an employer in Shek O was looking for a houseboy at $5,000 a
month and food allowance of $1,000.
lday subsequently referred to the defendant 12 of her
relatives and friends. Nine of the 12 paid the defendant through Western
Union, and then sent the remittance receipts to her. Alday paid for the fees of
her brother and two brothers-in-law.
The 12 applicants paid Fernandez a total of $36,220.35. When
their applications were fruitless after 3 to 5 months, Alday withdrew them and asked
a full refund. Fernandez returned $3,214 to three applicants in the sums of
$731.30, $1,483.50 and $1,000.
Alday filed a complaint against the defendant at the
Consulate and a meeting was set but Fernandez did not show up. The victim filed
a complaint at the Customs on Jul 6 last year and on Dec 13, the defendant was
arrested but released on bail.
Immigration confirmed no visa applications were filed
for the applicants. The Labour Department said Fernandez was not WWC staff and
was not licensed to recruit. The owner of WWCA, which shut in 2015, said she
never worked for the company.
The prosecution said the defendant, a Hong
Kong resident for 27 years, has no criminal record. Her husband,
who is jobless, is looking after her two sons aged 14 and 9 years in the
Philippines.
Fernandez, who wasn’t represented by a lawyer, said in mitigation
she was willing to pay back the victims by installment, but her salary now as a
secretary in a Tsim Sha Tsui firm was only $10,500 a month and she sends home Php10,000
each month to her two young sons.
