Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday assured 68 of the so-called “Alpha 400” that they could count on the long arm of Philippine law to hold the couple Krizelle Respicio and Frederick Dutaro accountable for allegedly duping them of as much as P119 million in exchange for non-existent jobs in Italy.

DAILY TRIBUNE’s digital show Usapang OFW brought the complainants against Alpha Assistenza SRL to the Department of Justice on Thursday.

Remulla earlier said he would personally look into the complaints once he received an endorsement from the Department of Migrant Workers, which said it would issue the document while providing legal assistance to the victims.

Respicio, a co-CEO of Dutaro at Alpha, had claimed close ties with Philippine Consul General to Milan Elmer Cato, whom the Filipino sponsors of the would-be workers in Italy accused of sitting on their complaints or giving them the runaround that forced them to seek help from the Italian police.

A statement from Cato’s office branded the accusations against him as “malicious disinformation,” even as the Italian Embassy in Manila confirmed to DAILY TRIBUNE the scam that Filipinos had perpetrated against fellow Filipinos.

Numbering some 400, the complainants exposed the modus operandi of Alpha Assistenza in the 21 September show of Usapang OFW, which then shepherded them to a meeting with DMW officials and then brought their plight to the attention of Senator Risa Hontiveros.

“We will follow the legal process, but I assure everyone that we will get the job done,” Remulla said as he unleashed the National Bureau of Investigation and the National Prosecution Service on Respicio and Dutaro, who are said to be in the Philippines to evade the many Filipinos in Italy hounding them for their money back.

Remulla said they will request the complainants’ affidavits so that the DoJ can properly complain and then put together a case to help them regain their money.

“If it is swindling, estafa, large-scale estafa, qualified theft… or whatever cases they are, we will have them draw out the truth,” he assured.

DoJ spokesperson Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano, said: “The facts that we will get will comprise the crimes — it could be one, it could be several depending on the elements we can determine. We can charge the perpetrators.”

Most sponsors paid the job-seekers’ consultancy fees charged by Alpha Assistenza — from 3,000 to 5,000 euros each. For the 400, the total amount in pesos believed pocketed by Respicio and Dutaro would be from P71,882,760 to P119,805,520.

Senator Hontiveros on Wednesday filed a resolution calling for a congressional investigation of Alpha Assistenza.

Source: the Daily Tribune