Sandbagged and stonewalled.

Numerous Filipino girls are lured to Romania.

PV is trying to shed light on the mystery.

 

By Lolita Tan

 

Manila, August 2012

 

If it wasn't for one of PV staff member visiting a travel agency in Sydney we would have properly never found out  about this travesty.  Still encountering problems since people don't want to talk about the subject or are nor forthcoming with basic information. Anyway here are the facts so far available . At present we are looking for an investigating journalist in Romania and hoping to be able to give you an update in the near future.

 

It all started with Mrs. Gonzales* appeared at a Sydney travel agency expressing the urgent need to arrange for a airline ticket for her niece a Miss Nina Lopez to travel from Bucharest (Romania) to Manila. The matter was rather urgent as Mrs. Gonzales pointed out her niece was currently stranded virtually penniless in Bucharest whereby the Philippine embassy there was providing her with basic needs and accommodation and was in the process to issue her with some temporarily travel document since her original passport was kept by her former employer  from whom she had run away.  To arrange a ticket was no problem and Miss Lopez arrived eventually sound and save back in Manila.

Anyway baffled by this story our journalist started to ask questions and we gathered that Miss Lopez was hired by an Romanian national apparently the owner of an Romanian speciality restaurant located at the Mall of Asia.  This restaurant has suddenly closed down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now closed, Restaurant Bucharest &

former recruitment centre.

 

 

We still seeking answers to the ffl questions: 

 

1. Romanian Embassy Manila:  How was it possible that the perpetrator was able to arrange a 12 month visa for Miss Lopez without even a formal work contract. The recruiter claimed to have “good connections” to the Romanian Embassy which was obviously true since the visa was issued.

 

2. Philippine Embassy  Bucharest: Has there been any effort made to recover the Philippine passport  of

            Miss Lopez. After all passports are the property of the issuing country's

 

3. Mall of ASIA Property management:  Who was the actual lessee of the Bucharest Restaurant premises.

 

4. Romanian Government:  How many  Philippine nationals working as “Domestic helper” in the country.

 

We did ask but no reply was forthcoming.

 

At present we are looking for an investigating journalist in Romania and hoping to be able to give you an update in the near future.

 

 

 

* Gonzales & Lopez are not the real  names. The real names are known to PV.

 

 

 

 

Miss Lopez was hired as “domestic helper "and offered the fantastic wage of Euro 1000.– per month (Approx Pesos 60000.-) but was never paid the promised wage. According to Miss Lopez there where  numerous girls hired and sent to various places of employment in Romania. PV has been unable to verify the nature of the job in Romania but can not rule out that prostitution in one way or the other was involved.  At first Miss Lopez was willing to reveal the whole story but unfortunately changed her mind after she was intimidated by associates of her former employer after her return to Manila.  Now we can not even trace her anymore.