Alberto Pilapil, a victim of illegal recruiters left stranded in Baclaran Church since September 2012
Alberto Pilapil, a victim of illegal recruiters left stranded in Baclaran Church since September 2012
Alberto Pilapil, 62 years old is allegedly a victim of illegal recruiter and was left stranded in Baclaran Church since September 2012, according to a facebook post of Kevin Jon Orit.
Kevin detailed the misfortune of Alberto Pilapil while seeking a job in Manila in September of last year. Kevin said in his wall post that he saw Mr. Alberto Pilapil in Buedia Avenue corner Taft Avenue in Pasay City when Alberto asked a little amount for him to buy some food.
Kevin decided to give him a small amount and the old man thanked him but Alberto never moved away.
Suddenly Alberto Pilapil elaborated his story and how he reached Manila. According to Mr. Pilapil, he was allegedly hired by a recruiter named Wilfredo Canete for a capentry job in Bulacan in September 2012. So from Davao, he and seven comrades with some underaged men travelled to Manila expecting that a job was waiting for them.
But instead of going straight to Bulacan, they were advised to stay in Baclaran church and was told to wait for a private car to fetch them. When the recruiter came back they were informed that the car broke down. Then Wilfredo Canete gave them Php 2300.00 before he completely left them and up until now the recruiter never came back.
Mr. Pilapil sought help from the Department of Social and Welfare Development(DSWD) but didn't receive any assistance.
Comments:
I was skeptical when I read the facebook post because there were many instances like this that we encountered before but were only a huge scam. Sometime last year, an old lady in Makati Avenue also shared her sentiment. She was from Marinduque and was brought to Manila together with a couple of women hoping to land a job in the metro. However, when they reached Manila, their recruiter suddenly disappeared and they were just left behind. The story is very similar to Mr. Alberto Pilapil. But we were able to confirm that the story of the old lady was fake!
So, today one of our bloggers went out to the field and investigated the case of Alberto Pilapil. When our field investigator arrived in the office of DSWD, a bunch of street beggars were rescued by the social workers but none of them looks similar to Mr. Alberto. We checked DSWD's records but his name was not found on any of the log books.
DiversityHuman.com's photo: Rescued street beggars we encountered in DSWD, Pasay City Hall
We also combed Baclaran Church's vicinity for almost two hours and we were not able to find Alberto. According to some Baclaran vendors and security guards, the crews of "Wish Ko Lang", a GMA-7 program, were also looking for him but haven't heard back if the crews were able to make a personal contact with Alberto.
For now, the claim of Alberto Pilapil as stated in the post of Kevin remains unconfirmed.
MAJOR UPDATE:
Mr. Alberto Pilapil was reportedly sent home to Davao with the aid of PinoyRadio Online. According to it's post in Facebook:
Magandang Balita po mga KA PRO .. nakauwi na po si Tatay Alberto sa Davao Makaksama na po nya muli ang kanyang Pamilya .. salamat sa ating mga Ka PRO na si Mam Rhia Tolentino Noguchi at Kay Sir Marvie... mga IDOL :) ♥ God Bless po
* Yung iba pong kasama ni Tatay Alberto ay nauna na po nakauwi si Tatay Alberto nalang po ang naiwan.. Praise God at nakauwi na po sya
Photo courtesy of Pinoy Radio Online
The post, however, did not elaborate where they exactly found Mr. Pilapil and how did they send him home to Davao. Nonetheless, DiversityHuman.com bloggers are happy to hear this update. We're happy because this news justifies that Mr. Alberto Pilapil shared his honest experience to Kevin Jon Orit and he did not fool them unlike the others who uses the kind of experience to trick people.
UPDATE#2, March 19, 2013: (Confusing News)
A concerned government lawyer contacted DiversityHuman.com and informed us that Alberto Pilapil is still in Manila. Check her message below.
Hi. About your blog, "Alberto Pilapil, a victim of illegal recruiters left stranded in Baclaran Church since September 2012," I would like to inform you that Mr Pilapil is still in Manila.
I met him last night along Harrison Street near Pasay City Hall. According to our conversation, I deduced that he does not stay in DSWD Pasay, he just follows up his and his companions' request for assistance to go back to Davao. Neither does he stay around Baclaran church during the day because he's in Manila begging for money and food.
He's a nice, talkative and genuine guy. I felt safe talking to him even along a dimly lighted sidewalk. During the 20-minute conversation, I never felt I was being deceived by him or cajoled into giving him something. I'm a government lawyer, by the way.
I would appreciate it if you guys can update your blog. Thank you.
Mang Alberto Pilapil spotted in Pasay on March 11, 2013 by Gabriel Serrano
DiversityHuman.com is so confused with Alberto's status. A facebook post of pinoyradioonline declared that Alberto Pilapil was sent home (to Davao) but now we received a contradicting news from two of our readers saying that they recently spotted him somewhere in Pasay. (see the comments of our readers below)