Government operatives arrested a Japanese national and his Filipino cohort for alleged human trafficking and large-scale illegal recruitment in an entrapment operation at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.
Joint operatives from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the NAIA Task Force Against Trafficking nabbed the Japanese national, identified as Tomita Takayuki, and a Filipina, Maria Zenaida Callos Otani. Both are facing charges of qualified trafficking in persons and large-scale illegal recruitment.
They were arrested last Friday night while attempting to sneak 13 Filipinos out of the country, who had been promised factory jobs in Japan.
Investigations revealed that the suspects recruited the victims through Winkbayside Manpower Services, which was later discovered to be a bogus agency. The victims were lured with offers of factory jobs under Japan’s Technical Intern Training Program, with a promised monthly salary of 120,000 yen.
However, upon arriving in Japan, the victims were handed over to various employers and forced to work in factories under fictitious identities. They later discovered that their actual salary should have been 200,000 yen, but they were only paid about 120,000 yen.
Undersecretary for Licensing and Adjudication Services Bernard P. Olalia, along with the NAIA Task Force Against Trafficking and the NBI-International Airport Investigation Division, carried out the entrapment operation that led to the suspects’ arrest.