Four victims surface “Contractor” falls in entrapment op

CEBU, Philippines - A man claiming to be a contractor was arrested in an entrapment operation in a parking area in a mall in Cebu City yesterday afternoon after he allegedly swindled several clients.

Resel Resma, 42, of  Talisay City, was arrested by the Cebu City Police Office Theft and Robbery Section after he received the marked money handed to him by one of the complainants.

Resma claimed he owns a construction firm based in Talisay City.

Chief  Inspector Noli Cernio, TRS chief, said that two engineers sought their assistance about Resma for being dishonest in their dealings.

Complainants Alain Villaganda and Kawi Alenton were allegedly contracted by Resma as the subcontractors in a P27.5-million project in constructing 50 small office units allegedly owned by a foreign national. Each unit allegedly costs P550,000.

Villaganda claimed that he and Alenton were able to pay to Resma P300,000 as a down payment for the contract, seminar, and to backhander the papers to be awarded the project.

Villaganda said that Resma even issued a check for P75 million to them as initial payment from the alleged bogus project, but the check dated June 25 was not accepted by the bank because his name was misspelled “Villagonda”.

He returned the check to the suspect.

Cernio said that after the incident with the invalid check, the suspect did not meet with the complainants personally anymore. He said that the suspect would contact them especially when in need of more money via phone.

Alenton said that he eventually found a friend who was familiar with the modus of Resma.

“Nagduda na gyud ko kay mohatag siya og kontrata, pero kuhaon ra pud niya dayon. Dili g’yud magdugay sa imoha,” Alenton added.

However, the complainants soon realized that they had been giving big amounts of money to Resma but were not yet awarded the contract of the multi-million project. They then sought police assistance after they found out the company of the suspect was nonexistent.

When the suspect allegedly asked for another P100,000 the complainants decided to ask the police to carry out the entrapment operation.

The police confiscated IDs, the marked money amounting to P100,000, a cellular phone, a check worth P15,000 and another check worth P75 million with the name “Villagonda” from the suspect.

Resma insisted that his company is legit. However, he was not able to show the contract of the multi-million project.

Aside from two complainants, another engineer has surfaced claiming the suspect swindled P10,000 from him while a hotel representative has also accused the suspect of not paying his accommodations amounting to P100,000.

Police were also able to dig up two estafa cases against the suspect; one pending in Regional Trial Court Branch 23 where he was able to post a P24,000 bail, the other from RTC Branch 19 where a hearing is set for November 14, 2014.

The suspect, who was in a barong when arrested, is currently detained at CCPO detention cell and will face charges for swindling and estafa. —/BRP (FREEMAN)