5/3/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Case No. Q-94-58870.[7] When arraigned, appellant pleaded not guilty.[8] Leticia Aviguetero went into hiding before she could be arraigned and she remains at-large to date. The above-mentioned cases were then jointly heard. The trial court summarized the evidence for the prosecution as follows: "Witness Marlon Sotero narrated that Aviguetero, a relative and neighbor in Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac, visited him and his wife sometime in November 1993, and asked him if he wanted to work as a factory worker in Malaysia as she knew Aurora Soliven who had a recruitment agency in Cubao, Quezon City. He replied that he had a job but if the overseas employment were certain, then he would be interested. He was given a bio-data form by Aviguetero and after filling it up, he gave it to her and she in turn gave the papers to Soliven. He paid P1,500.00 for the passport and was told that if he could make full payment of the processing and placement fees then he would be able to leave sooner. So he gave the amount of P27,000.00 in Soliven's house in Cubao, Quezon City. He left the country on February 19, 1994 on a tourist visa. He saw Pascua only before he left and learned with some companions in Penang, Butterworth, Malaysia, there was no work for them. They stayed at the Paktai Hotel with instructions that a certain Abdul Hamid Asari, the contact of the accused would give them working permits. When Asari arrived at the hotel, he took their passports and even their pocket money, purportedly to show to their prospective employer. Later they were brought to the Tiktak Factory and they started to work at the rate of 15 ringits or the equivalent of P150.00 a day. After a month, they decided to report the matter to the police. Pascua who arrived in Malaysia took his ticket. He returned to Manila on May 8, 1994 and immediately went to the TV program `Hoy, Gising' to relate his unfortunate flight in Malaysia. He was referred to Camp Crame and soon Pascua and Soliven were apprehended. The case was referred to the Department of Justice. He executed a statement marked Exh. `D.' He went to the POEA and was told that the three accused were not licensed recruiters. (see Exhs. A, B, and C). "Jaylord Balauro, civil engineering graduate is also a relative of Aviguetero and he also resides in Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac. He knows Soliven but denies knowing Pascua. He recalls that sometime in 1993 Aviguetero informed him that there were job openings abroad. He was then working as stock engineer at Procter and Gamble. There (sic) some neighbors who were earlier recruited by Aviguetero, one of them, his uncle Edmund Pasamonte. Aviguetero introduced him and his mother to Soliven, a recruiter with a licensed agency. Aviguetero and Soliven told them the placement fee was about P27,000.00. they also promised a lot of things: first, there was a job placement for an engineer in Singapore, then after about 2 to 3 months, he was told to wait for a working visa to Bahrain. Having given some amount to Soliven at her agency at El Niño Apartelle in N. Domingo St. cor. Banahaw https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/52764 3/14