Authorities shut down on-the-run illegal agency

After repeated relocations, a travel agency illegally recruiting Filipino workers to Bulgaria was shut down by Philippine authorities on Thursday.

According to Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Undersecretary for Licensing and Adjudication Services Bernard Olalia, Yatra Travel and Tours in Brgy. Calulot, San Fernando, Pampanga, had moved three times within Pampanga, likely after realizing it was under surveillance. Its latest location was a smaller office on a busy street.

However, the agency’s owner was not arrested.

“Our team was already here this morning, waiting for the owner because we were set to implement entrapment proceedings,” Olalia said.

Entrapment operations are typically done to arrest an individual in the act of committing an offense. The DMW undersecretary noted that the reason the owner was not there remains unknown but was reportedly in Porac, Pampanga at the time of the arrest.

A landlord, who requested anonymity, revealed that Yatra had been renting the space for two to three months and did not operate regularly. DMW Director III Eric Dollete noted that the agency only opened when applicants were scheduled to arrive.

"We do not have data yet on how many people they have managed to deploy because the ones they attempted to send abroad were deferred by the Bureau of Immigration, which is how we came into contact with the complainant," Dollete added.

Yatra Travel and Tours had been offering factory worker jobs in Bulgaria, promising salaries of P90,000 to P100,000, but charging prospective workers exorbitant fees ranging from P400,000 to P500,000. To date, this is the ninth illegal recruitment agency the DMW has shut down this year.