The Department of Migrant Workers or DMW yesterday vowed to endorse to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution the complaints of about 400 Filipinos allegedly duped of about 3,000 euros each (roughly P181,000) by Italy-based "immigration consultancy" firm Alpha Assistenza SRL.
Accompanied by DAILY TRIBUNE's Usapang OFW, 18 of the complainants narrated to DMW for hours their and their sponsors' harrowing experiences in losing their hard-earned money to Alpha Assistenza co-CEOs Krizelle Respicio and Frederick Dutaro.
Usapang OFW broke the "massive scam" in an episode that aired on 21 September that was, thereafter, followed by a series of articles that exposed the alleged modus operandi of the owners of the firm who boasted of close ties with a Philippine official in Italy.
The paper has reached out to the official and is awaiting his response to the complainants' claim that his office has been sitting on the complaints filed by their sponsors in Italy.
As this developed, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told DAILY TRIBUNE and Usapang OFW that he would personally look into the complaints upon receipt of the DMW's endorsement to the DoJ.
The DoJ oversees the National Bureau of Investigation, as well as the government's prosecutorial service.
At the DMW, Directors Geraldine Mendez and Eric Dorig Dollete of the agency's Migrant Workers Protection Bureau said that, aside from endorsing the complaints to the DoJ-NBI, they would also organize a fact-finding mission to Italy.
Mendez and Dollete added that they would mobilize DMW's Migrant Workers Office and Assistance-to-Nationals unit in Italy even as they assured the complainants of legal assistance.
Several senators have expressed dismay over what may turn out to be one of the biggest illegal recruitment cases in the country, with a couple of lawmakers planning to call an investigation into the matter.
DivinaLaw had pledged to look into the complainants' plight.
With an average fee of 3,000 euros paid by each of the complainants to Alpha Assistenza, the total amount the 400 "victims" could recover may amount to 1,200,000 euro or P72,367,182.40 at the exchange rate prevailing as of 25 September.
Lawyers interviewed by TRIBUNE said the complaints may amount to a syndicated crime, the exact nature of which, they said, would be borne by the facts that must be established by investigating agencies like the NBI.
The complainants said they had brought to the attention of various government agencies as early as July the purported use by Alpha Assistenza of fake work permit documents that resulted in their visa applications being denied.
They also noted "irregularities" in the handling of their visa applications by the Philippine Interactive Audiotext Services Inc., or PIASI, including at least one instance of fees being paid in a coffee shop on the ground floor of the building where the PIASI office is located.
PIASI is the third-party service provider accredited by the Italian Embassy in Manila.
The complainants had told Daily Tribune that they were afraid for their relatives and friends currently working in Italy who had sponsored them in good faith. The sponsors face the possibility of being thrown out of the country, they said, just because they (job seekers) were provided fake documents by Alpha Assistenza.
Eight of the 18 complainants told DMW that their passports were still with an Alpha Assistenza agent despite their visas already having been denied.
"(The agent) took our passports, telling us that she would be the one to represent us in the processing of our papers. We have been asking her to return our passports but it has been more than a month, and we still don't have them," one victim recounted.
They also questioned the authenticity of the visa denial documents that they had received from PIASI as their names were merely handwritten in what appeared to be "fill-in-the-blanks" letters.
Meanwhile, two OFWs in Italy interviewed by DAILY TRIBUNE said one of two Italian lawyers featured by Alpha Assistenza on its Facebook page as officials of the company is suing Respicio for making the false claim.
They said that the Italian supplier of the video wall used during the Philippine Independence Day celebration in Italy had also complained of being paid only about half of the 26,000 euros owed him.
