School warns vs “solicitor”

CEBU, Philippines —   A university is alerting the public to the modus of a man who has allegedly been asking for money from different groups and institutions, and claiming he is a student of that university.

In a press conference, University of San Jose-Recoletos student affairs director Jesus Velez presented several identification cards allegedly used by a certain Joselito dela Cerna Paras Jr. to ask for money from others.

He allegedly used the names Philip Arabejo and Christian Castro.

Aside from USJ-R, Paras also allegedly claims to be enrolled in another university under the name Philip Arabejo.

“We learned that mo-adto pud na siya ug religious congregations, mga madre, mga pari, mo-adto na siya didto unya magpakiluoy nga wa siyay kwarta, ibilin niya iyang ID manghuwam siyag kwarta, mubalik lang siya,” Velez said.

Aside from the religious institutions, Velez added that Paras also approached several persons to borrow money using the same method.

Last Wednesday, Paras allegedly went to a school in Barangay Tisay, Cebu City, and presented a USJ-R ID with the name Christian Castro. After a teacher from the said school said the ID was fake, Paras quickly left to avoid questioning.

Velez said a legitimate USJ-R ID will show the photo of a student wearing the official school uniform. The printed font will also be clear and it will have a radio frequency ID sticker at the back with the date of the ID’s validity. Their ID’s have also had embedded barcodes since 2017.

The abovementioned featured of the legitimate USJ-R ID were not on the ID cards presented to those establishments, according to Velez.

“Kini pa lang daan, wala naman ni naka-uniform, naka-amerikana man…dili na legitimate ID,” Velez said, describing the fake IDs.

Based on their initial investigation, USJ-R identified Paras as the perpetrator’s real name.

Paras allegedly used three fake USJ-R IDs with the same picture but different names.

Velez asked the concerned government agencies to help them spread awareness that there are individuals going around, pretending to be part of their institution for their personal benefit.

He also asked the public to report to the police if someone approaches them with the same modus.

The university has filed a report with the police about the activities of Paras.  BRP (FREEMAN)