Two persons who claimed they are among the 2,500 victims of the alleged big time illegal recruiter Kirby Silva went to the office of the Crime Investigation and Detection Group-7 (CIDG-7) yesterday morning.
Adelino Magbugtong and Marvin Magtoo, both from Cordova, Cebu claimed that they each paid P10,000 and P11,000 as placement fee but they were not able to fly to Australia.
Magbugtong said they were recruited by a certain Marlyn Mancao whom he met when he was working in Japan.
Silva told him that his employer is Beeremberg Farm but he eventually learned that the agency was fake because Mancao was not able to fly to Australia on her supposed date of departure.
He lamented that he had to borrow money to pay for the placement fee.
“I want to hit her because of what she did to us. It is not easy to find money,” Adelino Magbutong said.
He went to see Silva in the detention cell but he was told that she does not know him and that if he has concerns against her, her lawyer will handle it.
“We believed her because she made us believe that she is a religious person,” Magbutong added.
Silva was arrested Monday afternoon by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detention Group (CIDG) 7 in her house in barangay Vito, Minglanilla, Cebu.
RTC Judge Generosa Labra issued the arrest warrant for illegal recruitment against Silva.
Silva hid in a cabinet in her office when police came to arrest her.
Her husband, Rogelio, was also arrested for alleged possession of a .45 caliber handgun. Rogelio also surrendered his .38 caliber firearm which he kept in his car.
Silva allegedly operates a call center named Intertech 888 but actually operates as a recruitment agency that looks for workers for companies in Australia.
She has allegedly duped about P2,500 people nationwide and earned some P37.5 million from her business.
In September 2013, she was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation for 19 counts of estafa and she was released after posting bail of P450,000.