College professor pockets students' P.6-M tuition

Manila, Philippines - A college professor was charged yesterday with estafa for reportedly defrauding his nine Iranian students of more than P600,000 tuition.

Senior Superintendent Jude Santos, Caloocan City police chief, said Alexander Urbano, 40, a professor at the Manila Central University (MCU) College of Dentistry, was charged before the office of fiscal Isabelito Sicat, who set bail at P30,000.

According to Chief Inspector Rodrigo Soriano, Urbano recently offered to facilitate the enrollment of the nine Iranian students at the MCU’s College of Dentistry and collected around P660,000 from them.

“The students, however, later learned that there was no enrollment that happened,” Soriano told The STAR yesterday.

Soriano said when the students asked Urbano to return their money, he reportedly issued checks that bounced, then disappeared.

On Wednesday, the complainants chanced upon Urbano in Manila and “they personally hauled” him to the Manila police substation 4.

The Manila police, accompanied by the nine complainants, surrendered Urbano to the custody of the Caloocan City police Wednesday night.

Soriano said the suspect admitted “misappropriating the money,” which he reportedly lost gambling in a casino.

 “We have already coordinated with the MCU College of Dentistry and they said they would also be filing administrative charges against Urbano,” Soriano said.