Cebu post office probes case of $9,300 check

CEBU CITY — Losing out to electronic means of delivering mail is not the only problem of the Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost).

Thieves at the post office pose perhaps an even bigger problem.

An investigation is now underway after a public school teacher complained that postal employees may have attempted to steal a $9,300 check made out in her name.

Niza Villahermosa, who teaches at the Pardo Extension Elementary School, said her sister in Colorado, USA mailed her the check last May 24 and told her to expect the envelope by the first week of June.

The envelope never came, or at least not through the regular mail through which it was sent.

After months of waiting and wondering what became of the check, Villahermosa finally received it on Aug. 3, delivered by three women, crumpled and the envelope containing it nearly in tatters.

Villahermosa said the women, one of whom owns an eatery at the north reclamation area, took pains to locate her and deliver her long-lost check.

The women said the letter envelope was left behind at the eatery by three men who left hurriedly after eating that very same day.

The eatery’s owner said the men had with them a brown envelope whose contents they checked at their table. The brown envelope reportedly contained a good number of letter envelopes.

Villahermosa said the envelope containing her check was crumpled and open but the postmark on it was still legible. The postmark showed the envelope was received at the Cebu City post office on May 30.

The check was still inside the envelope but it was of no use for those who tried to filch it because it was intended for deposit only in Villahermosa’s account.

When the envelope did not arrive on the first week of June as expected, she said she tried to check with the post office and was able to talk to Jonathan Sagipalo, the postman assigned to her place, but was told it has not yet arrived.

She filed a formal complaint with Cebu City postal district manager Benito Quiros on Aug. 5. - Freeman News Service