The Bureau of Immigrations on Wednesday confirmed reports that Krizelle Respicio and Frederick Dutaro, co-CEOs of the Milan-based immigration consultancy firm Alpha Assistenza SRL accused of duping about 400 Filipinos into non-existent jobs in Italy, were no longer in the Philippines.

During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Migrant Workers on the widescale illegal recruitment activities of Alpha Asssitenza SRL, the BI confirmed that Respicio and Dutaro had left the country for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This, after Senator Risa Hontiveros, who also sought the legislative inquiry into the alleged illegal recruitment activities of the Alpha Assistenza SRL, inquired whether the Department of Justice could issue a hold departure order against the two suspects.

Responding to the lawmaker’s query, Nancy Lozano, a state counsel from the DOJ, said the department could no longer issue a hold departure order against the firm’s owners pursuant to a recent decision of the Supreme Court.

“Right now, the authority of the DOJ is to issue an immigration lookout bulletin but not a hold departure order,” Lozano said.

In connection to the topic, Senator Raffy Tulfo, who presided over the hearing, inquired about the reports that Respicio and Dutaro were no longer in the country.

“We received a report that the owners of the Alpha already flew to Saudi Arabia. They already escaped,” Tulfo said.

Responding to the lawmakers’ queries, Vicente Uncad, a lawyer and representative from the BI, affirmed that Respicio and Dutaro had left the country last December.

“Based on the five names given to us by the secretariat, Krizelle Respicio and Frederick Dutaro left the country on December 13, 2023,” Uncad said.

Tulfo interrupted Uncad and asked if the two suspects had escaped, to which the BI official answered "apparently.”

“Their flight destination was Saudi Arabia although we did not know if it had connecting flights from Saudi Arabia,” Uncad said.

Meanwhile, he noted that Yexel Sebastian and his wife, Mikee Agustin, left the Philippines for Nagoya, Japan last September.

Sebastian’s name was dragged in a P200-million investment scam in relation to the casino junket operations that reportedly lured OFWS.

Uncad identified Frisca Niña Nabati as the last person on their list who is still in the Philippines.

‘Extradition’

While the Philippines has no existing extradition treaty with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, TRIBUNE’s legal counsel, Ferdinand Topacio suggested to the panel that the government may request for such.

“If I may just respectfully suggest to the committee that while there is no extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia, from what I know of diplomatic relations, extradition may still be requested on a case-to-case basis as long as you have diplomatic relations with that country,” Topacio told the lawmakers.

Responding to the lawyer’s suggestion, Tulfo said the committee would take it into consideration.