3/30/2021
E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly
filling up the application form, three women who appeared to be friends of Jasmine
arrived to follow up the result of their applications and to give their advance payment.
Jasmine got their papers and put them on top of a small table. Fermindoza then
proceeded to the door and signaled to the raiding party by raising her hand.
Capt. Mendoza asked the owners of the house, a married couple, for permission to
enter the same. The owners granted permission after the raiding party introduced
themselves as members of the CIS. Inside the house, the raiding party saw some
supposed applicants. Application forms, already filled up, were in the hands of one Mrs.
Carol Figueroa. The CIS asked Figueroa if she had a permit to recruit. Figueroa retorted
that she was not engaged in recruitment. Capt. Mendoza nevertheless proceeded to
arrest Figueroa. He took the application forms she was holding as the raiding party
seized the other papers[5] on the table.[6]
The CIS team then brought Figueroa, a certain Jasmine Alejandro, and the three
women suspected to be applicants, to the office for investigation.[7]
In the course of their investigation, the CIS discovered that Carol Figueroa had many
aliases, among them, Carol Llena and Carol dela Piedra. The accused was not able to
present any authority to recruit when asked by the investigators.[8] A check by Ramos
with the POEA revealed that the acused was not licensed or authorized to conduct
recruitment.[9] A certification[10] dated February 2, 1994 stating thus was executed by
Renegold M. Macarulay, Officer-in-Charge of the POEA.
The CIS likewise interviewed the supposed applicants, Lourdes Modesto, Nancy Araneta
and Jennelyn Baez, all registered nurses working at the Cabato Medical Hospital, who
executed their respective written statements.[11]
At the trial, Nancy Araneta, 23, recounted that she was at Jasmine Alejandro's house in
the afternoon of January 30, 1994. Araneta had learned from Sandra Aquino, also a
nurse at the Cabato Medical Hospital, that a woman was there to recruit job applicants
for Singapore.
Araneta and her friends, Jennelyn Baez and Sandra Aquino, arrived at Jasmine's house
at around 4:30 p.m. Jasmine welcomed them and told them to sit down. They listened
to the "recruiter" who was then talking to a number of people. The recruiter said that
she was "recruiting" nurses for Singapore. Araneta and her friends then filled up biodata forms and were required to submit pictures and a transcript of records. They were
also told to pay P2,000, and "the rest will be salary deduction." Araneta submitted her
bio-data form to Carol that same afternoon, but did not give any money because she
was "not yet sure."
On the day of the raid on February 2, 1994, Araneta was again at the Alejandro
residence to submit her transcript of records and her picture. She arrived at the house
30 minutes before the raid but did not witness the arrest since she was at the porch
when it happened.[12]
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/49893
3/20