More file raps vs 4 Alpha officials

Some 31  more victims trooped to the National Bureau of Investigation yesterday to file complaints for illegal recruitment and large-scale estafa against four officials of Alpha Assistenza SLR.

The Alpha Assistenza officials were co-CEOs Krizelle Respicio and Frederick Dutaro, Hilda Alojado, Respicio's secretary who is based in Italy, and the alleged representative in Manila Kristine Tutane.

The complaint affidavits were filed in the office of Atty. Joseph Martinez of the NBI-National Capital Region.

The  recruitment agency has been accused of  duping more than 400 Filipinos seeking jobs in Italy.

The alleged illegal operation was not limited to Filipinos dreaming of landing jobs in Italy but extended to Filipinos in other European countries like Switzerland and France.

The applicants were promised legal work papers for an enormous sum. However, when they went to the Italian liaison office in Manila, they were told the papers were fake. Others simply never heard from Alpha Assistenza again.

One of the complainants interviewed yesterday, who requested anonymity, said she was hoping for a better life once she landed a job in Italy where she would be with four of her relatives.

She was very excited when she received the work papers for which she had initially paid P120,000 in processing fees,  only to discover that it was fake because the Italian embassy's authorized liaison office in Manila could not read the 20-digit code.

She had lost all hope of  getting her money back when she chanced upon the Usapang OFW show of DAILY TRIBUNE.

"I suddenly got my hopes up that I would get justice and  my money back because of Usapang OFW. That is why we are cooperating so that those responsible will be punished," she said in Filipino.

The 400 or so victims of the illegal recruitment had allegedly shelled out from P120,000 to P220,000 each to the recruitment firm.