VILLASIS – Another illegal recruiter has found herself behind bars after she was caught in an entrapment operation.

Police Senior Insp. Edison V. Revita, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Urdaneta City team leader, identified the suspect as Yolanda Mata Ignacio, 42, with listed addresses at barangay Sto. Tomas in San Luis, Pampanga, and barangay Patali, in Sablan, Benguet.

Revita said Ignacio is now lodged at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology district jail in Balungao town for cases of large scale illegal recruitment. No bail was recommended by the court for her temporary liberty.

Twelve cases have so far been filed against her although Revita said the number of victims might reach 35 or even more, some of these allegedly from Isabela province.

Revita said the suspect was allegedly recruiting women for job placement in Singapore.

The entrapment operation hatched by CIDG-Urdaneta, in coordination with the Villasis Police Station, was implemented last Wedneday at 9:30 a.m..

One of the three would-be victims was to pay her P16,000 for the processing fee. A meeting was set at the Bagsakan area in Barangay Zone 1, Villasis. Unknown to her, the CIDG elements were already prepositioned within the vicinity.

Immediately after Ignacio received the marked money, Revita and his men pounced on her and made the arrest.

Ignacio supposedly met the victims through a friend residing in Villasis, a certain Hilda who once worked in Singapore and who is now one of the complainants.

The other victims from Villasis are friends and acquaintances of Hilda.

Revita said Ignacio is not connected with any recruitment agency in the country but coordinates directly with an agency in Singapore. She sends the money she collects to her foreign counterpart.

Some of the victims met her sometime in March, while others saw her only in July.

“Don’t be very fast in releasing your hard earned money, only to learn later that you were conned. And if you have been victimized, don’t hesitate to report it to the police so we can arrest them and stop their criminal activities,” Revita advised would-be applicants for job overseas.