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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Suspected large-scale illegal recruiter arrested at NAIA – NBI

Suspected large-scale illegal recruiter arrested at NAIA – NBI

Published Jul 31, 2025 03:23 pm
A suspected large-scale illegal recruiter has been arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for attempting to traffic eight Filipinos to Cambodia, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said.
The NBI identified the suspected illegal recruiter as Paolo Nicandro Cuneta who was arrested by the bureau’s International Airport Investigation Division (IAID) last July 14 at the NAIA Terminal 3.
It said that after his arrest, Cuneta was charge before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office with qualified trafficking in person under Republic Act (RA) 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 as amended, and large-scale illegal recruitment under RA 8042, the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 as amended.
Illegal recruitment is large-scale if it is committed against three or more persons as individuals or as a group.
The NBI said that personnel of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) approached a group of eight Filipinos accompanied by Cuneta and invited them for questioning.
During the interview, it said that the eight passengers identified Cuneta as the person who gave them instructions on how to pass immigration procedures and as the individual who furnished them with fraudulent documents to support their travel.
Thereafter, it also said, Cuneta was informed of the allegations against him. Cuneta, it added, admitted that he merely printed the documents he provided to the passengers upon the instruction of his former Chinese employer, whom he knew in 2022 only as alias “Doc,” a payment officer in an online gaming operation in the country.
It added that the eight Filipinos were supposed to fly to Vietnam as tourists and later proceed to Cambodia to work as housekeepers and customer service representatives in a company owned and operated by Chinese nationals.
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