World War Two veterans duped

At least 4,200 World War II veterans and farmers, mostly from Tuguegarao City in Cagayan, trooped to the National Bureau of Investigation yesterday to seek its help against a syndicate involved in a fake pension scheme.

The victims identified the alleged syndicate’s mastermind as a certain Rene Siquiran, 60, of Parañaque City and allegedly a high ranking officer of the controversial H-World paramilitary group.

Teresita Dimaandar, the group’s spokesperson, told reporters that Siquiran would gain the confidence of his victims by introducing himself as an official of the Pastrana Foundation, which he claims is connected with the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) and the Social Security System.

Dimaandar said Siquiran, after catching the interest of his would-be victims, would then promise to include them in the list of PVAO beneficiaries. The suspect allegedly told the victims that he could make arrangements to include them in the list of veterans even though they did not serve in the military during the war.

Siquiran would often tell his victims to contribute to his foundation P3,500 a month for one year, after which, the "contributors" is allegedly assured to receive P15,000 in monthly pensions.

According to the NBI’s Anti-Fraud and Computer Crime Division, Siquiran, with his glib-tongue, was able to fool his victims, who are now mostly in their 60s and 70s.

Dimaandar said that many of those duped even sold their valuables just to pay the monthly contributions.

But the victims became suspicious when Siquiran failed to give the victims their promised dividends at the end of last year.

The victims later discovered that the suspect and his entire staff have already vacated their Tuguegarao office. They initially tried to track Siquiran down but failed, prompting them to seek the NBI’s help.