Husband and wife team nabbed for illegal recruitment

News Release
August 7, 2016

DOLE Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III has directed the immediate prosecution
of a couple caught in the act of illegal recruitment.

The CIDG Anti-Transnational Crime Unit, at the instance of the Anti-Illegal
Recruitment Operatives of the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA), arrested Stephanie M. Valdez and her spouse Jhoan
"Khalil" Yuen, for recruiting overseas Filipino workers without the proper
license from the POEA.

Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac reported to DOLE Secretary Silvestre H.
Bello III the arrest of Valdez and Yuen, which resulted from the complaint of
an applicant who said she was promised a job as household service worker in
Qatar and was charged a placement fee of Php65,000.00.

In an entrapment operation inside a supermarket in Quezon City, the joint
operatives recovered from the couple the marked money the applicant
supposedly paid to the recruiters as additional placement fee.

The applicant said Valdez initially asked her to pay Php 20,000 for processing
her papers but she was able to pay Php 14,000 only.

Valdez allegedly directed her to proceed to an agency to sign an employment
contract and for stamping of visa, and was asked to pay Php 35,000 for
placement fee to Valdez' husband Khaleel Yuen.

Cacdac said the applicant decided not to push through with her application,
and sought counsel from the POEA Legal Assistance Division, where she was
told that she must pay a total of Php 65,000 placement fee, an amount higher
than the amount previously agreed upon.