Authorities shut down a travel agency in San Fernando, Pampanga on Thursday for illegally recruiting Filipino workers to Bulgaria after the agency repeatedly relocated, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said.
Initial reports said that the Yatra Travel and Tours in Barangay Calulot had moved three times within Pampanga, likely after realizing it was under surveillance, according to DMW Undersecretary for Licensing and Adjudication Services Bernard Olalia. 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 conducted to arrest an individual in the act of committing an offense and Olalia cited the reason for the owner’s absence was unknown, but the individual was reportedly in Porac, Pampanga, at the time of the operation.
A landlord, who requested anonymity, said Yatra had been renting the space for two to three months and did not operate regularly.
DMW director III Eric Dollete said 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.