Bizman accused of estafa requests court to post bail

CEBU, Philippines — Businessman Derwin Wong, who was arrested for a syndicated estafa, has filed an urgent petition for bail before the court.

Operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested Derwin in Makati City, by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Regional Trial Court Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan dated March 28.

Derwin, through lawyers Norman Golez and Candy May Angliongto, asked the court to allow him to post bail for his temporary liberty while the case is pending, claiming the evidence against them is not strong.

“In view of the foregoing, DWCI (DW Capital, Inc.) does not fall under the definition of a syndicate under the law and the fact of conspiracy among the accused was not established. Consequently, the evidence of syndicated estafa against all the accused is not strong,” read the petition.

Derwin is one of the officers of the brokerage firm DWCI. He was charged together with at-large Wong Chung  Yin alias David Wong, Derick Wong, Davidson Wong, Dianne Wong, Lucy Chua, Juvy Ting, Susan Lu, Beverly Ansay, Leonardo Marzan, and unidentified individuals  before the court.

They were accused of conspiring with each other in defrauding Valerie Gaisano Sebastian by inducing the latter to invest in buying and selling shares of stocks in various corporations under the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

Allegedly, Sebastian gave and delivered P24.36 million to the accused.

Sebastian’s legal counsel, Atty. Edgar Gica said his client was not able to receive any proceeds of their investment.

Sebastian invested to DW Capital Inc. because Derwin “was” the latter’s brother-in-law, as her sister got married to Derwin, said Gica.

He added they will file their opposition to the petition.

DWCI is a brokerage firm that served a great number of public investors who traded public stocks derived from the investing public, including Sebastian and her mother. This is owned by the Wong family.

The Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office recommended no bail against the accused for their temporary liberty. (FREEMAN)