By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Bote's Facebook account which she used to chat with applicants |
Two Filipinas, one a domestic helper who works in Sai Wan Ho
and the other, a resident, have been tagged as key players in the recruitment
of around 60 Filipinos for non-existent jobs as foreign domestic helpers and
gardeners in Hong Kong.
The two have been named in numerous statements executed by
alleged victims, believed to have netted the operators at least Php3million
(around $500,000) since January this year.
Informed about the complaints, Consul General Raly Tejada
immediately pledged to look into the case and confer with relevant authorities
like the Hong Kong Police and the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, if
necessary.
He is also considering issuing an advisory to warn Filipinos
about the illicit operation.
He made his pledge after being told of at least one case
filed by a Filipina DH in Hong Kong, Maricris
Vargas, who claimed to have lost a total of $23,298 (Php150,000) which she sent
to the scammers in five installments between January and February this year.
Vargas said she was lured into the scam by a friend, fellow
Filipina DH named Ruby Ariz Bote (with Facebook name Yhenchen Ruby Zira) who
allegedly promised to work on processing a work visa for her relatives in the Philippines if
she paid Php150,000.
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| Vargas' police statement shows a breakdown of the money she sent to Gregory |
“As I did not have enough money, I asked my relatives in the
Philippines
to remit the amount to (Bote) for me. Bote then gave a name to me for the
remittance: Marilyn Pascua Gregory.”
Most of the other complainants in the case also have
receipts of remittances to Hong Kong made through Western
Union in the name of Gregory.
According to chat messages sent them by Bote and other
alleged members of the recruitment gang, Gregory is a Hong Kong resident who
lives in Hibiscus
Park in Kwai Chung, and
hails from Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat.
Bote, whose Hong Kong
address has been given by Vargas as block 2, Grand Promenade in Sai Wan Ho, is
said to also live in Sultan Kudarat.
Two of her fellow recruiters named in most of the complaints
also hail from Mindanao, but in General Santos
City – Jennifer Rocacurva, who works as a DH in Singapore,
and Christine Joy Smith, who claims to be a resident of the United Kingdom.
Another complainant who named both Bote and Gregory in her statement
to the Consulate lives all the way in Kyrgyztan, although she also used to work
as a FDH in Hong Kong.
Angela Rojas said she sent a total of Php135,000 ($21,000)
to Gregory at Bote’s behest. Rojas said she trusted Bote because they were neighbors
in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat.
Bote allegedly told Rojas about the supposed “urgent” and
VIP recruitments in Hong Kong, and asked her to advance the placement fees for
two of their friends back in the Philippines as they didn’t have
money.
Rojas sent the equivalent of Php100,000 to Gregory on Feb
12, and on the next day, instructed her brother-in-law to send another
Php35,000 to pay for the processing fee of another applicant.
“Pinamadali kasi kami
ni Ruby ng padala dahil lahat daw ng mga post nila na hiring ay may ready job
order na,” said Rojas (Ruby told us to send the money quickly because all
their hirings already have job orders).
But after sending the money, Rojas said she learned that all
the information given them by Bote was false. For one, she said, the applicants
were told by staff in the clinic where they were told to go for a medical
check-up that they didn’t know any of their recruiters.
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| Some of the applicants were told at this medical clinic that they had no scheduled check-up |
“Lahat ng schedule na
binigay nila hindi natuloy. Nag set ulit sila ng medical examination pero hindi
natuloy. Nag set din ng training, hindi natuloy. Lahat ito sa loob ng dalawang
buwan, samantalang ang sabi nila ay two months lang makakaalis ang mga tao,”
said Rojas.
(All the schedules given them did not push through. They set
another date for the medical examination, but it didn’t push through again. The
same happened for the training they were supposed to get. All of this happened
in two months, when they were assured they could leave in two months).
A more graphic statement was made by an applicant who went
through the ordeal of being told to go to Manila,
ostensibly for medical check-up and training, and ended up having to look for
his own accommodation while he waited in vain for the promised services.
Rogelio Mendoza said he learned about the job offers in Hong Kong from Vargas, who is his sister-in-law.
“Tiwala ako dahil
nandyan ang hipag ko sa Hong Kong,” he said (I was confident because my
sister-in-law is in Hong Kong).
He said he and his brother-in-law each sent Php50,000 on Jan
23 to Gregory on Bote’s instructions.
On Feb 20, the two were told to go to Manila, and were promised that somebody would
pick them up. But nobody showed up, so they were forced to stay in a hotel.
The next day, they were told to go to a place in Quezon City, but they were
shocked to see it so crowded that they called up Ruby to complain. They ended
up fighting with her so they decided to just to go to his brother-in-law’s
relative in Manila
to ask to be sheltered.
On Feb 22 they were told to go to a clinic for their medical
check-up but were told that they didn’t have an appointment, and their supposed
Hong Kong agent, a Madam Shirley Leung, was
not known to any of the staff there.
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| A Madam Leung is threatening to sue the complainants and The SUN over the expose |
By that time, Bote, Rocacurva and Smith had already blocked him
from their chat group, so in anger, Mendoza
said he posted on Facebook about the jobs scam, and called for his money to be
given back.
“Nang ma post ko sila
noong May 18, 2021 ay bigla silang naglabasan at panay ang mura nila sa akin.
Tapos nangakong ibabalik ang pera ko pero kakasuhan daw ako dahil sa pinost ko.
Pinaglalaban pa rin nilang hindi sila manloloko,” he said.
(After I posted about them on May 18, 2021, they all
suddenly came out to swear at me. But then they said they would give back my
money but threatened to sue me because of my post. They were still insisting
that they were not scammers).
Mendoza
said the three returned only part of his money because they still took out more
than Php4,000 from what he sent them.
He said he wants them held to account still because not only
does he have to keep paying 15% interest on the money he borrowed to send to
them, he also had to suffer the humiliation of being given the run-around and
called names by the illegal recruiters.
