‘Illegal recruiter,’ 69, entrapped in Manila

MANILA, Philippines—A 69-year-old owner of a travel agency in Manila was arrested Friday for alleged illegal recruitment following a complaint from a job applicant who was offered work in Australia.

Police said Fulgencio Fortich of San Antonio Street, Malate, had asked P80,000 from the complainant Alejandro Gozmo, 35, but the latter discovered that Fortich’s firm D3 Kings Travel Consultancy was not accredited as a recruiter by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency.

Gozmo said Fortich offered him a job in Australia that would pay $4,000 a month, but “I became suspicious of his true activities after he kept asking for more money and yet could not tell the status of my application.”

A payoff was arranged by the police on Friday afternoon to entrap Fortich, who was arrested when he accepted marked money from Gozmo. Nancy C. Carvajal