CHENNAI: For 26 fishing families of Mahabalipuram, 50 km from Chennai, a Filipino couple did more damage than the tsunami did.

The Filipino couple ruthlessly assaulted the community, already crippled by the tsunami, inveigling the impoverished fishermen into believing that their act of deception was an offer of help.

"We did not approach them. They came to us and said they would help us get jobs abroad. They seemed genuine," says K. Vinayagam, who was the first fly to be trapped in the web. The two, identifying themselves as Maryjoe Morga and Dennis Villaflores, belonging to a shipping company based in Singapore, invited Vinayagam and others in his village to take up jobs aboard a Taiwanese ship in March last year.

During the meeting, they were asked to pay Rs. 1.20 lakh as processing charges. However, the fishermen offered to pay Rs.65, 000 as initial deposit and clear up the rest after taking up the job.

Accepting this, the couple collected Rs.15 lakh from them and left for Singapore in June, promising to send them the documents immediately.

This was followed by a flurry of emails, but little else. Every fisherman had taken loans to pay his passage and was worried when no progress was made.

The Seaman's Identity Card (required to work aboard foreign ships) for 12 of 26 persons was also sent on email.

"This is when we got suspicious. We were told that the ID cards would be provided only after a week of training in Malaysia. Our signatures were forged on the documents," Vinayagam explains.

Visit to Singapore

He even went to Singapore (taking a loan) to confront the couple, but even this proved of no use.

"We are in a bad shape now, what with this extra loan burden. Living has become a torture," Vinayagam says, tears in his eyes.

With the help of Arunodhaya Migrants' Initiative (AMI), the fishermen lodged a complaint with the Protector of Emigrants.

Bernard D' Sami of AMI says the fishermen have been advised to seek redress in Singapore, as there is no possibility of registering a case in this country.

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