Woman indicted for estafa, cohorts cleared

CEBU, Philippines - A woman arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation for syndicated estafa was allowed by the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office to post bail after she was only indicted of a lesser crime of estafa.

Assistant city prosecutor Rhodna Bacatan downgraded the complaint against Jacquiline Guerrero and allowed her to post P60,000 bail for her temporary liberty. Bacatan also dismissed the complaints against Guerrero’s alleged cohorts, spouses Arthur and Fe Pigon, for lack of evidence.

Guerrero, resident of Barangay Malabang, Parang, Agono, Rizal, and her cohorts were arrested by the agents of the NBI on Friday during an entrapment operation in Barangay Guadalupe.

The arrests stemmed from a complaint filed by Guillerma Lim who claimed to have been swindled by the suspects. Lim said that Guerrero fooled her into believing that she had inherited a lot in Tacloban City from her late grandmother Paciencia Paredes Villanueva.

Lim said she granted Guerrero a special power of attorney to represent herself in the litigation in court to claim the property as it was allegedly occupied by Unimaster Conglomerate Corporation, Incorporated. Lim said she had given a total of P15 million to Guerrero.

However, she later found out that the property did not belong to her grandmother. Lim sought the assistance of the NBI resulting in Guerrero and her cohorts’ arrest.

But the prosecutor’s office found no basis to indict the Pigon couple of the crime because there were no evidence pointing them that they have participated in the transaction.— (FREEMAN)