Millions of pesos worth of consumers goods, computers, copying machines, jewelries, etc. were lost in a con game involving bouncing checks that spanned four months of undetected operations. Scores of victims showed up to tell their sad stories but many others refused to come to terms with the swindle apparently because they don't want to be at the losing end of a “bad bargain”. Those who remain silent about their losses were big establishments like Shoppers' Mart that as of last report refused to cooperate with co-victims as to how much worth of goods was carted away by the syndicate. The list of victims with their corresponding losses were a soft drink distributor, P85,000 worth of soft drinks; Rusco Motors, one multicab van; Philcopy Corp., two photo copiers worth P180,000; Ruchele Computers, computer units worth P229,200; Sonjay Microsystems, notebook computers worth P190,000; Fullerlife, beauty products worth, P39,000; Esther Felisarta, jewelries worth, P103,000; Dranix, cigarettes worth more than P100,000; Natures Spring Water, bottled water of commercial quantity; and Magor Trading, two photo copiers including school supplies, P100,000nmore or less; NCC Menthos candy agent,P41,000 worth of Menthos candy; Jeffrey Appliance, one air conditioning unit and Globelines, one unit Nokia E71 celfone worth P18,000 and unpaid celfone bills worth P3,800. Another jeweler and a lending investor were also listed as victims but the Post source failed to identify them and their corresponding losses. But, the way the gang operated on their other victims, it was possible that it was in the thousands of pesos.
THE SYNDICATE
Believed part of a syndicate operating nationwide, the modus was quite simple. In the Bohol setting, the gang first operated a store along Visarra St. , this city last April. The starting business was an orange juice distributor. Named Sweet-o Orange , it has a manager identified as Lamberto Medalla with last known address as Bongavella St. , Victoria Subdivision, Victoria City Negros Occindental. He was also known as Albert Santiago Enterprises of Maypajo, Caloocan City. With a compliment of several employees including ambulant sales persons, the orange juice distributor also pretended to be in the business of dealing ranging from food products, soft drinks to cigarettes. After getting the trust and confidence of unsuspecting consumer goods dealers, the gang leader then issued post dated checks to cover the purchase of stocks displayed in the two stores. Along the way, the gang opened another outlet near the Dauis junction to convince their suppliers that business was making good. The checks issued during the early days of the sting operations were cleared for sufficient funds back up. As in any con game, the turnover of good checks proved to be short-lived. It was last July 13, when the city suppliers realized that they were duped. The prospective victims were alarmed when they learned that two employees of the “food distributor” found to their surprise that their store was closed for no apparent reason. A clerk identified only as Rhea wondered aloud why the Visarra outlet was closed. She then remembered the Saturday before that her boss, Medalla, asked for the keys and she handed them to him. The clerk then proceeded to the Dauis branch and together with another sales agent discovered that the store was emptied of all its product display and it was in complete disarray. The news of the manager and his cohorts' disappearing act sent alarm bells ringing to innocent employees. The panic wave also caught up with the dealers who were issued post-dated checks. With PDCs in hand, they trooped to RCBC Savings only to find out that the current account in the name of Lamberto Lim Medalla was already closed.
SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATIONS
Subsequent investigations showed that Medalla left his Dauis station at dawn on July 12 on board the Multicab he acquired through mortgage at the Rusco Motors. Fully loaded with the stolen goods, the vehicle left for Ubay and took the roro route via Bato, Leyte. Since the multicab was purchased through PDC, the dealer required him to pause for a picture in front of the vehicle for purposes of identification. This explained the picture in support of the banner story appearing in the front page of this paper. The manager's secretary identified as Divina Garcia Rodrigo also known as Alma was found to have took the early flight of Philippine Air Lines that day for Manila . She was seen hurriedly riding a tricycle with several baggage. In fact, it was learned, she was charged for carrying excess load. Another cohort, identified as Mildred Sy, was found to have boarded a fast craft bound for Cebu City together with a certain Shiela. The other accomplices of the syndicated crime were identified as Julie Acenas Aguimatang of Caloocan City; Irish Barasolla alias Sam and Shiela Mendez whose last known address was
Bacolod City.
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