THE Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group yesterday pressed its hunt for a female pimp tagged as the leader of a Laguna-based escort service ring luring even minors into prostitution, PNP-CIDG chief, Director Samuel D. Pagdilao Jr. announced yesterday.

Pagdilao said that in coordination with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking of theDepartment of Justice, his men have launched the hunt for the suspect identified only thru his alias “Nikki.” 

THE office on Roxas Boulevard dangled a “get-rich-quickly-abroad” scheme to starry-eyed, cash empty Filipinos. It offered elusive U.S. visas to applicants drunk with their own dreams. For exciting bonus, the firm also guaranteed to help clients land jobs in America with salaries not less than $1,200. Nobody had a clue that they were just being promised what they only wanted to hear.

 

The firm turned out to be a fake visa and large-scale illegal recruitment syndicate which has victimized hundreds of Filipinos trying to land high-paying jobs in the United States since 2006. It was smashed by agents of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in cooperation with U.S. Embassy officials 5 p.m Wednesday, officials said yesterday.

 

MANILA, Philippines - Another batch of Filipino workers from conflict-stricken Syria arrived in Manila on Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman reported.

Quoting a report from Charge d’ affaires Olivia Palala of the Philippine Embassy in Damascus, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said 76 OFWs had availed themselves of the government’s offer to repatriate them to the Philippines.