PBA player duped of P.8M by fan

Professional basketball player Kenneth Duremdes yesterday filed before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office a criminal complaint against his fan who allegedly failed to pay him the loan of P835,000.

Duremdes, a player of the Coca-Cola Tigers of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), charged Danilo Olaira Gomez with estafa and violation of Batas Pambansa 22, or the Bouncing Check Law.

Gomez, aside from being an avid fan and friend of Duremdes, is said to be a contractor of government offices namely the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Education (DE), and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Duremdes and Gomez met each other four year ago, when the basketball cager was introduced to the respondent by a relative.

"He(Gomez) constantly watches my games and had regular drinking sessions with me after the game,"stated Duremdes in his affidavit,"That, Mr. Gomez having knowledge that I have a little deposit of my earnings in the bank, enticed me to rediscount his checks that he will be using as additional capital to complete a PNP housing project of which he is entitled to collect a huge amount of fees."

According to Duremdes’ complaint, the incident happened on February 2005 and April 29 of the same year when the complainant was "enticed and invited" by Gomez to "rediscount" his checks which would be used as additional capital for the completion of a PNP housing project.

Gomez allegedly assured Duremdes that he would get paid at the maturity of his checks, as he promised that the payment would be from the respondent’s collections from the PNP housing project.

As assurance, Gomez gave the complainant postdated checks that would be funded when the maturity date come as the respondent have connections with different government agencies who would help him collect payments for his projects.

Duremdes said that he was enticed with the respondent’s presentation and that he trusted the respondent because they have been friends for two years.

On February 2005, Duremdes received two postdated checks amounting to P600,000 and P235,000, respectively. The said checks were presented to the Land Bank-Quezon City branch for payment but were "dishonored" because the account was closed.

Upon knowing this, Duremdes immediately informed Gomez where the latter promised the complainant that he would be paid at the "soonest possible time."

"Despite repeated demands made against Mr. Gomez to return my money and, or to replace his checks with cash, the same proved futile," Duremdes said in his affidavit.

The former PBA Most Valuable Player said he learned that the respondent transferred to a different residence without notifying him and did not leave his new address.