GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/11 May) – Government agents rescued at least 16 minors from Maguindanao province who were allegedly recruited for fake overseas job placements by a suspected human trafficker based in this city.
Timmy Rejano, supervising agent of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Region 12, said Friday they intercepted the victims while their alleged recruiter identified as Mary Ann Linao was trying to secure their clearances at the NBI regional office in Koronadal City on Wednesday.
He said they immediately arrested Linao, who was charged late Thursday for violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Acts of 2003.
“While processing the clearances, our agents discovered that some of the birth certificates they presented were bogus while others were tampered to make it appear that they were no longer minors,” Rejano told MindaNews.
He said they immediately took custody of the 16 victims, who were all residents of Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao.
During questioning, Rejano said the victims admitted that they were only aged between 16 and 17 years-old.
He said they were allegedly recruited by Linao for supposed jobs in Kuwait in earlier visits to their villages in Shariff Aguak.
Rejano said Linao, who reportedly maintained an office in Purok Malipayon in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat but resides in this city, initially claimed to be working for a Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration-licensed recruitment agency based in Metro Manila.
“But it turned out during our verification that she was not among the authorized agents of the agency. With that, she is considered an illegal recruiter and large-scale human trafficker,” he said.
Rejano said one of the rescued victims, who was transferred Thursday to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Region 12, claimed that Linao instructed her to alter her birth records so she would qualify for the overseas job.
The 17-year-old was specifically told to change the listed year of her birthday from the original 1993 to 1989, he said.
The official said the victims also admitted that the supposed National Statistics Office (NSO)-authenticated birth certificates that they presented were not issued by the NSO field office here as they
indicated but were just “manufactured” in a house in Shariff Aguak town.
He said they were now tracking down the source of the counterfeit NSO-issued birth records through the NBI Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao regional office, which has jurisdiction over Maguindanao.
Based on their records, Rejano said the rescued victims were the second batch that Linao recruited this year.
He said Linao was able to secure NBI clearances earlier for 16 other overseas-bound recruits through the regional office in Koronadal City.
“(But) we already had doubts then. We just didn’t have enough in our hands at that time to pin her down,” he said.
Rejano said they are currently gathering information and other necessary evidences regarding the initial batch of Linao’s recruits, especially where they eventually ended up abroad.
The official said they are presently investigating Linao’s possible links to human trafficking syndicates in the region that mainly recruit young women to become sex slaves in mainland Malaysia and some
parts of the Borneo Island.
In July last year, NBI Region 12 agents arrested an alleged human trafficker identified as Norodin Kusain, who also tried to secure clearances for 50 women recruits from Maguindanao at the NBI regional office in Koronadal City.
But the suspect, who also yielded two firearms, was later released by the local police after the recruits refused to cooperate with authorities.
“We recovered photographs (from Linao) that showed her and Kusain together,” Rejano said.
He said they received information that Kusain has resumed his illegal recruitment activities in Maguindanao and was seen several times in the area recently. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)