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A 41-year-old woman accused of illegal recruitment was arrested in an entrapment operation yesterday in downtown Cebu City.
Undercover policemen handcuffed Loreta Quintinita of barangay Poblacion, Talisay City after she accepted P10,000 in marked money from a decoy.
Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) conducted the entrapment operation against Quintinita after four job seekers complained that they had been duped.
The four victims, who are from Talisay City and Minglanilla town, said they each paid almost P50,000 as placement and processing fees to Quintinita for promised work in Macau.
One woman said she pawned her family's house and lot to pay the placement fee.
Almost a month after she paid nearly P50,000 to the woman, she still has no idea when she can go to Macau.
She said Quintinita had already sent her elder sister to Macau but there was no work waiting for her there.
The woman and three others sought police help when Quintinita refused to give them a refund.
This came after she failed to let them depart for Macau as promised last Monday.
During the operation, CIDG-7 agents arrested Quintinita after she received the P10,000 marked money from a complainant.
Quintinita was brought to the CIDG-7 hearquarters where she is detained pending the filing of charges.
Quintinita told police that she committed a mistake in recruiting employees for work abroad.
?Kahibaw ko sir nga illegal na, ako lang na sila gitabangan (I know, sir, that what I?m doing is illegal. But I just wanted to help them),? said Quintinita.
Quintinita said she used to work for a legitimate recruitment agency.
She said she decided to practice individual recruitment after she found a broker in Macau. /Correspondent Chito O. Aragon
