Non-Existent Jobs in Italy

Filipinos who wish to work abroad are warned against falling for recruiters that offer jobs in Italy but promise job seekers that their employment papers would have to be processed in Malaysia.

An advisory released by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said that they have received reports that this is the modus of two illegal recruiters who were identified as Andrew Lorenzo and Arnie Almazan.

POEA chief, Hans Cacdac said that in the submitted reports, Andrew Lorenzo claims to be an employee of Baggio S.p.a. Transporti Combinati in Italy and has been recruiting Filipinos to work for the said company.

Meanwhile, Arnie Almazan, the recruiter based in Malaysia collected Php55,000 from the applicants for their supposed placement fee. The clueless jobseekers also paid aPhp6,000 as POEA processing fee to another agent in the Philippines. According to Cacdac, Lorenzo and Almazan are both liable for illegal recruitment charges as they are not authorized to conduct any overseas recruitment activities.

Furthermore, the company in Venice, Italy, Baggio S.p.a. Transporti Combinati which is a freight forwarding company is not connected with any licensed manpower agency in the the Philippines.

Warning Against Repatriation Assistance Offers in Saudi

OFWs in Saudi Arabia especially those who desperately want to go home are advised by the Philippine Embassy to be wary of a certain Warren Villegas Soriano who is allegedly offering to help OFWs facilitate their exit visas in exchange for money.

Soriano was reported to the Embassy by a group of OFWs who paid and submitted their travel documents to him after he promised that a high- ranking official would make it possible for their exit visas to be issued at the airport. Indeed the scammer returned their travel documents complete with exit visa reference codes and even the seat number for their flight.

However the exit visa reference codes specified in their travel documents were denied by Saudi immigration at the airport. The Embassy reiterate their warning to all OFWs against any individual who will promise repatriation assistance in exchange for money. They emphasized that issuance of exit visas can only be done through concerned Saudi authorities.