Fifteen persons who were allegedly detained illegally by the owners of a recruitment agency in their offices and accommodation facility in Paranaque City have been rescued by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

In a statement, the NBI identified the recruitment agency as Maanyag International Manpower Corporation.  The owners of the firm and those rescued were not identified, however, 

It said the rescue was done during an operation conducted by agents of the NBI's Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD) last May 28.

With the rescue, the NBI said charges have been filed against Maanyag's owners for violations of Section 5 of Republic Act (RA) 10022, the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995; Section 4 of RA 10364, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003; and estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC); and serious illegal detention under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to RA 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

The NBI said "the case stemmed from the complaint of one of the victims’ relatives who averred that applicants were being detained by Maanyag International Manpower Corp. in their office and accommodation in Paranaque City."

It said the complainant also alleged that "the victims’ passports and other travel documents were being withheld in the fear that they will be reported to the police if they run away, and will be blacklisted in all recruitment agencies."

During the operation, those rescrued confirmed that they have been detained, it said.

At the same time, the NBI said those rescued also said they were asked "to reimburse all the processing fees they spent so their documents will be released, and they have to secure their plane tickets going back to their respective provinces.”

“In addition, they were ordered to do household chores, including manually washing the clothes of the staff and their families,” it said.