By Balitang America Staff
.
Elizabeth Malabanan, the president and owner of Z-Drive, Inc. e-mailed Balitang America to respond to allegations made by 24 Filipino workers in Mississippi that their recruiter engaged in human trafficking. In her e-mail, Malabanan vehemently denied the accusations.
She wrote, “Z-Drive is a corporation duly organized and existing in accordance with the laws of the Philippines and has been licensed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Department of Labor and Employment to engage in the business of manpower recruitment and placement. We renewed our license last June 16, 2010 and it is still valid until June 16, 2014. Z-Drive has maintained an outstanding, untarnished and respectable reputation in the industry.”
In an exclusive interview with Balitang America in early August, a Filipino worker who asked not to be identified and her lawyer, Elaine Carr, said they have asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to help prosecute Z-Drive, the recruitment agency that brought them to the U.S.
Carr said the DHS is now building a case of human trafficking against Z-Drive, which is based in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
The unnamed worker told Balitang America that Z-Drive misled them about the type of work they would do in the U.S. refused to release their visas and passports until they paid about $5,000 (not $50,000 as earlier report) in fees, and assigned them to jobs that paid below the state minimum wage.
Malabanan said that sometime in December 2008, she met Julius Bana, who the workers identified as one of the recruiters.
Malabanan said that Bana introduced her to Mike Lombardi, owner and operator of USOpportunities who said that he could provide jobs to Filipino workers.
While Z-Drive became the local agency of USOpportunities, Malabanan said that it was Bana who communicated directly with Lombardi. She said, “The entire operations in the U.S. was ran exclusively by Mr. Bana and Mr. Lombardi, who merely paid us a meager sum of $300 for the use of our license with which we are not yet even paid until now.”
Nevertheless, Malabanan said her company made sure all placements and deployments made to the U.S. were in accordance with the rules and regulations of the POEA.
Malabanan said that the first few transactions were in strict compliance with labor laws.
But sometimes last February, she said they received complaints from some of the candidates that they were not given jobs, as promised in their contract.
Malabanan said, “We immediately brought the matter to Mr. Bana who then promised to call Mr. Lombardi. We immediately took steps to ensure the safety and welfare of the applicant.”
Malabanan added that they immediately terminated their agreement with Bana and Lombardi. She said, “In fact, I wrote a letter to the POEA, requesting for a permanent ban on Mr. Lombardi and USOpportunities to recruit Filipino workers.”
Malabanan said that her company also filed a criminal complaint against Bana before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Makati.
She noted, “We take exception to your claim that we withhold our applicants’ visas and passports for the simple reason that it is USOpportunities and Mr. Bana who are responsible for issuing the applicants with the petition paper for the visas. Also, we cannot withhold the release of visas because we would be penalized by our principal for the delay in deploying our applicants.”
Malabanan maintained that Z-Drive will cooperate and extend whatever help they can to resolve the issue.
.
why is the US bringing in workers when unempolyment is a problem. send these ppl back and give the jobs to US citizens!!!
Patay na si Jeffry Delgado
The head of all this mess is U.S Opportunities and Mike Lombardi. We should send him to jail as he is doing this not only with Philippines but with several other countries.
I can guarantee that US opportunities is extremely useful for finding seasonal jobs in America. Contacting them was the best decision I made in my life since now, I have a great job that pays me good. All I did was apply for a job through them and they guided me with the VISA processing procedures and went to the extent of finding me accommodation in a good place.
US Opportunities, an independent recruitment firm offers excellent seasonal job opportunities in America and accommodation for individuals. I have personally gained from the agency, since I was one among many applicants who benefited from it. I applied for a job through the agency two years ago and now am employed in a seasonal job in the U.S that is lucrative and provides me with immense career growth.
I applied for a job with U.S opportunities a couple of years ago and got recruited for a seasonal job. Now, I am working for over two years in America and only US Opportunities is responsible for this wonderful career opportunity. They even helped me with the paper work and processing and boarding and lodging, till I could find one on my own.
@ SHERLIE REYES; JUST OPEN THE LINK BELOW TO VIEW THE PICTURE OF JULIUS BANA. HOPE IT COULD HELP!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Julius-B-Bana/1142071799
So sad to know abt what u experienced with this agency. Ryt now, I’m applying for a working visa somewhere in Europe and the money involved is quite big…The agent is Mr.Julius Bana, guys pls described him to me or if you have a pic of him pls email me at eilreshnelle_race@yahoo.com…I really hope that you’ll have justice.. Be positive and never lose hope..remember what goes around, comes around..
thank you so much sam.
to human retribution: you may contact us at email: help@ellainecarrlaw.com
@sam; sam me contact number ka ba ni attny. ellaine? pls. give us a copy. tnx. god bless.
additional info; hindi lang z-drive ang nanloko samin. dapat maimbestigahan din si NELLIE C. LIM!
PANGALAWA SYA SA NANLOKO SA AMIN. NAGBAYAD KAMI SA KNYA NG 600 DOLLARS NA DOWN PAYMENT PARA SA RENEWAL SANA NG I-94 NAMIN PERO LUMIPAS ANG ILANG BUWAN NA PAG AANTAY NALAMAN N LANG NAMIN NA HINDI PALA NYA INI APPLY ANG RENEWAL NAMIN. ME CONTACT DIN SYA SA Z-DRIVE PAREHO LANG ANG MODUS NILA ANG MANLOKO NG TAO LALO NA NG KAPWA NILA PINOY.
Many thanks for all the one who started this fight. TOTOO lahat ng allegation na ito laban sa Z-Drive. isa din ako sa mga maraming naloko ng z-drive! at ngayon ay nagdurusa dahil sa panloloko nila! Mga kasama( especially Batch 2009 ) Eto n ang panahon na iniintay natin. sa lahat ngnaloko nila magkaisa tayo para pagbayaran ng z drive na yan ang mga panloloko nila sa atin.. Dumating n ang karma nina Julius at Joe robert at buong z-drive. LET’S FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS!
what a fuck ndi b pwedeng pag papatayin yang mga pangit n yan?mga man loloko! kya pag nkita ko yang pangit n mrs.malabanan at yang baklang c kalbong mr.julios n yan sisiguraduhin kong mata lng nla ang walng latay!
ang dami pala nating nloko ndi cla ya2man s mga perang nkuha nla at kung ndi dahil ky mrs.malabanan walang mr.julios n manlo2ko ng gnun k raming tao,.darting din ang panhon nla! malay ntin yang honda n kotse ni mrs.malaban biglang mabungo s highway o dikaya mahulog s over pass atska ky julios s panlalake nya bglang ndi mugot ang tete ng knayang chinochopa s knyang bibig,.hahahahahahah wag kyong mag alala mamatay n cla,.malpit n karma nla.,,
My god.. didnt expect they are still operating.. i think we are the first victim of this agency.. promising great opportunity as engineer in Japan but everything went into mess and need to survive on our own.. but thanks God.. we were able to get out from this company..
me too im also a victim of Z-drive also in a j1 visa. also paid almost 170k
@Bryan, Arnel&Regelyn: you may reach or contact the immigration lawyer at this email add: labor@ellainecarrlaw.com
isa rin ako sa navictim nang z drive we are the second batch who come here in the usa which z drive recruitment and manpower agency hired us and give as an offer job in colorado as a holder of h2b visa..we are also paying the amount of 250 thousand $ U.S Dollar 5,000 in z drive which we loan in their reffered lending company pgh in the philippines…after we arrived here in usa colorado me with and my 10 more friends which is their agency is z drive..without knowing anything that after our first contract in colorado for 6 months their is no sure job and employer that will renew our visa and extend our I-94s mike lombardi ( u.s opportunities based in south beach florida tie up with julius bana of z drive manpower agency with an office in makati palace hotel mike lombardi also tell us that before our visa expires in october 2009 we must to apply for a new job a new employer that will renew our I-94s that we need to pay a total amount of $ 600 U.S dollars in his own accnt in bank of america. some of my friends pay 300 dollars and me of 600 dollars believing that he will renew our visas and find a new job but before the last 2 days before our visa expires he send us a letter saying im sorry guys becoz of the economic recession i cant find any job for u meaning their will be no one will renew our visas…now we decided to go in other states to find our own job and place to live. we are also stop sending money to our families to pay only for the penalties of the lending company…my mom has a case filed by the lending company against her….for not paying the lending company we sell everything in our house just to pay the lending company. plus right now we are out of status here in the usa… almost a year from now thinking how to survive and hoping their will someone will solve our case and renew our visas…
me and 32 of my co workers which agency is z drive in the philippines are asking for any assistance and help …i would like to ask how can we find or contact the immigration lawyer that u said on this report …
we are also a victim of z drive we are here in new york we are the 2nd batch that work in colorado but after 6 months of working we are on our own, we pay julius bana $5,000 and he said that its for 3 yrs, we are also avictim of the lending company reffered by zdrive we are 12 here in new york some are in other states
i am also the victim paying almost 170k to mr julious bana under j1 visa.