Fake engineer nabbed for estafa

MANILA, Philippines - A man out on bail for swindling and falsification of documents six months ago is back in jail for the same offense, and on a bigger scale, following an entrapment operation made Tuesday night at Robinson’s Fairview in Quezon City.

Senior Superintendent Jude Wilson Santos, Caloocan City police chief, identified the suspect as Virgilio Benin alias “Engineer Beni”, 54, resident of Polaris street, Tandang Sora, Quezon City.

The victims, who talked to The STAR about their ordeal, said the anomalous transactions perpetrated by Benin involved some 100 real estate agents, who Benin also employed as collectors, and some 300 families, who are now paying for lots they are not sure will belong to them later. The property in question is Northville 2-A, a 14-hectare residential village under VP Noli de Castro’s housing program for rail dwellers displaced by the Northrail Project in Caloocan City. The village is located along Bagumbong Road beside Coopville, a private housing village owned by Nova Deci, a local cooperative, said the complainants.

Crisencio Secretario, a sub-contractor who claimed he built the first model house in the village and one of the complainants, said some 3,000 houses (with a lot area of 30 square meters) will be built in Northville.

Estrella Yap, a real estate agent-victim, told The STAR Benin may have accumulated some P5 million from his illegal activities.

The complaining sales agents told The STAR they are now paying back the money paid by their clients from their own pockets. They said they are determined to nail down Benin for bringing them into this humiliating position.

When verified at the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC), they were allegedly told Benin was not in the agency’s list of professional engineers. Santos urged all those who may have been victimized by Benin to go to the police station to identify the suspect and file appropriate charges.

Benin is now detained at the Caloocan City police headquarters while charges are being readied against him even as some 40 complainants trooped to the station yesterday.

Senior Inspector Ronald Perilla, Station Investigation and Detection Management Bureau (SIDMB) acting chief who led the entrapment operation, said Benin was nabbed after receiving marked money for P10,000 at Robinson’s Supermarket in Fairview, Quezon City at around 6:30 p.m.