2 members of Manila-based syndicate victimizing Negros teachers nabbed

BACOLOD CITY — Two members of a Manila-based syndicate believed to be behind a large-scale estafa operation in Negros Occidental were arrested on Tuesday by police operatives in Cauayan town.

Suspects Corazon Bandadillo Soriano, 49, of Ipil-Ipil Street, Sta. Cruz, Manila and Remedios Reyes Boquirin, 38, of 449 Vicente Diegos, Sampaloc, Manila, have been allegedly victimizing teachers through the issuance of fraudulent loan checks.

Some 27 teachers from schools in Valladolid, Pontevedra, Moises Padilla, Binalbagan and San Enrique, who were victimized by the syndicate, trooped to the Bacolod City Police Precinct 1 after learning about the arrest of the suspected swindlers.

The educators filed complaints of large-scale estafa against the two arrested suspects and their two other companions identified as Delia Sorrel and Leticia Garcia, who both remained at large.

Latest police reports showed that the two other suspects had escaped to Manila.

SPO1 Vicente Canuday, chief investigation officer of the Police Precinct 1, said the four suspects allegedly swindled 27 teachers of about P253,800 in interests from loans amounting to P810,000 or P30,000 per teacher.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) explained that the suspects had contacts with money lenders offering loans to teachers and the suspects act as loan facilitators. Under their modus operandi, the teacher-borrower is issued a check amounting to P29,400 after an advance interest of P600 is taken from the actual loan amount of P30,000.

The checks are usually issued on weekends to force teachers to encash the checks from a money changer. However, the teachers would only get P20,000 since the swindler-facilitator gets a commission of P9,400 per loan.

When these checks are encashed at the banks, that's the only time they learn that they were duped.

The suspects were arrested at the house of Lourdes Albañez, principal of Basak Elementary School in Cauayan town, where the group was supposed to deliver the dishonored checks.