'QUEEN' OF ILLEGAL RECRUITERS ARRESTED
MANILA, OCTOBER 6, 2011 (TIMES) Written by : JOVEE MARIE N. DELA CRUZ REPORTER (Photo -Vilma Mabilangan, also known as Vilma Manzo and Vilma Angue, hides behind her husband after her arrest by National Bureau of Investigation agents for alleged large-scale estafa and illegal recruitment. PHOTO BY MIGUEL DE GUZMAN)
A WOMAN long wanted for massive illegal recruitment and large-scale estafa was finally arrested after years of evading the law.
Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Tuesday pounced on Vilma Manzo Mabilangan while she was on her way to her office in Port Area, Manila. Mabilangan is the owner and publisher of the tabloid Toro.
According to NBI agent Ana Labao, Mabilangan was facing multiple cases of illegal recruitment and estafa in Manila and Batangas province.
"She was riding in her car when she was arrested and she admitted that she was Vilma Manzo Mabilangan," Labao said.
"We don't know yet the number of her victims, but they were mostly sent to Russia," she added.
The agent said that Mabilangan promised her victims high-paying jobs in Russia but they had to pay her "the right processing fee."
She added that the fee depended on the kind of job an applicant wanted to have in Russia.
NBI agents had conducted four days of surveillance before Mabilangan was arrested, according to Labao.
"We have received lots of complaints against her, but she was so elusive because of her connections in the government, being a journalist and a writer at the same time," she said.
The agent added that Mabilangan was arrested by virtue of a warrant issued by Branch 40 of the Manila Regional Trial Court where she was charged with three counts of large-scale estafa and illegal recruitment.
The same charges were slapped against the tabloid publisher before the sala (living room) of Judge Hermine Gildo Lacat of Branch 83 of the Regional Trial Court in Tanauan, Batangas.
Labao said that the criminal charges filed against Mabilangan in Batangas were non-bailable.
She added that the Manila and Tanauan courts released the warrants against Mabilangan in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
Mabilangan is being held at the NBI detention center.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
