8 charged for stealing P6.4-M detergent products

A Manila City prosecutor recommended yesterday that no bail be granted to seven employees of a wholesale store and a businesswoman who allegedly pilfered P6.4 million worth of detergent products from its outlet in North Harbor, Manila over five months.

Fourth Assistant Manila City Prosecutor Jessie Bautista said theft charges were filed against businesswoman Pilar Paras, of Caloocan City; and Makro Inc. North Harbor store manager Dante Nagatalon III; assistant store manager Merlinda Forton; audit, logistics and control manager Jacqueline Gozon; customer and development manager Flor Marie Crespo; section head Rodolfo “Jhondee” Ramoran Jr.; and merchandisers Leo Rapsing and Arlan Marcelo.

Paras is a store customer and maintains three Makro cards: LP Store, registered under her name and Ronnie Palisoc; Argie Drug Store and General Merchandise, registered under the names of Loida and Arnold Marcos; and Alpha’s Store, owned by Gerardo and Julieta Lee.  Samuel Santillan, Pilipinas Makro Inc. systems and audit manager, stood as the complainant in the case. He asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident.

Records showed that Makro’s North Harbor store allegedly offered Surf products under the “4+1” scheme without gaining the approval of the head branch. The act of pilfering reportedly happened from October 2005 until February 2006, wherein Paras, using the three different Makro cards, made several bulk transactions.

Paras would reportedly approach Ramoran, Rapsing or Marcelo and order Unilever and Proctor and Gamble products, particularly Surf detergent, in bulk. She would state her orders and pay for the products and in return is given a receipt. Ramoran would then inform the end-controllers that the purchased products are under the “4+1” scheme and Paras would be allowed to leave with the items even without showing any gate pass.

But on March 22, 2006, Makro Inc. issued a certificate stating that they did not authorize its North Harbor store to offer a “4+1” deal on Surf detergent since October 2005.

Sometime during the first week of March 2006, the management of Pilipinas Makro Inc. instructed its Buying and Store Operations to return excess stocks to suppliers and it was at this juncture that they realized that the branch in North Harbor had a large volume of Unilever products, particularly Surf detergent.

Later, they realized that a sizeable number of products were missing and unaccounted at the selling areas.

This prompted them to conduct a spot inventory audit. “Hence, on 19 March 2006 the Audit, Logistics and Control (ALC) Department of Makro North Harbor issued an audit report which shows an alleged pilfer loss of P6.4 million, more or less, of Surf products,” Bautista said in a resolution.