What really happened to the cash?

The Makati City police would subject a messenger to undergo a polygraph test after she allegedly lied about how she lost, representing P265,000, salaries of employees of a dermatological clinic last Friday.

Police Officer 2 Rickymel Corpus of the Makati City police Theft and Robbery Division, recommended that Lina Tapa, 41, messenger of the Facial Care Center and a resident of Barangay Cembo, to undergo a lie detector test to verify her story.

Tapa first went to their police station last Friday evening narrating how two men on board a motorcycle took the P265,000 and her necklace worth P5,300 at gunpoint. However, following interrogation, she retracted her tale. She finally told the police that she was victimized by a group of swindlers.

"I think that she was trying to conceal the real facts of the case because she was afraid that her officemates would demand that she pay the amount she lost. Whereas, if she had been robbed, it would not have been her fault," Corpus explained.

It has been customary for Tapa to withdraw the salaries of those working at the Facial Care Center located at GT Tower International on De la Costa street in Legaspi Village, Makati City.

She told police that she went to the De la Rosa branch of Security Bank shortly after 3 p.m. As she was walking back to the clinic, a man allegedly came up from behind and demanded that she surrender the brown envelope containing the cash and her necklace. The man then ran toward a waiting motorcycle and sped off.

But when the police accompanied her back to the crime scene to re-enact the incident, "her facts were not consistent and questionable," Corpus said.

They took her back to the police station, where she admitted that a man approached her after she left the bank and asked her if she wanted to double her money.

She was led to a waiting maroon Toyota Tamaraw FX, where three women convinced her to invest the money with the promise that she would be able get P530,000 after a short period of time.

When they reached Fort Bonifacio and Villamore Airbase flyover, the male suspect took the envelope while his three female companions along with Tapa alighted from the vehicle. The three women then immediately ran off to various directions and the van sped off toward the south, leaving behind a confused Tapa.