5 budol-budol suspects caught

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The city police have arrested five persons, three of them women, after they allegedly swindled a 78-year-old woman in Iloilo City.

Chief Insp. Efren Lozada, Iloilo City Police Station 1 chief, identified the suspects as Ernesto Matulin, 55, of Maasin City in Southern Leyte; Wilfredo Bustanilo, 64, of Pinan in Zamboanga del Norte; Joanne Juarez, 30, of Buenavista in Agusan del Norte; Elsa Palma, 45, of Bacolod City; and Thelma Cruz, 40, of Zamboanga City.

The police intercepted the five while about to embark at the RoRo Wharf in Dumangas town, Iloilo. They were easily detected by authorities after a tip-off that they were riding a Besta van (plate number XBT-876).

The suspects, using the classic budol-budol scheme, befriended first the elderly victim Felisa Alcalde, a resident of Jeffersonville Subdivision in Mandurriao district of this city.

Reports have it that Bustanilo and Cruz approached Alcalde and introduced themselves as acquaintances of the woman’s child. After the two got Alcalde’s trust, the three other suspects came into the scene. One of them told her they needed to deposit a large some of money but they did not know which bank they should transact business with.

The trusting Alcalde recommended to them some banks, and the suspects requested her to accompany them there. After agreeing to them, they led her to ride with them in the van, driven by Matulin. While inside the van, they showed her bundles of boodle money.

Lozada, quoting Alcalde’s narration, said, “They told her that they would trust the bank even more if she was also a depositor of the same bank.” Alcalde easily fell prey to this as she showed them her passbooks of two banks.

The trap was set, and the suspects then persuaded her to withdraw P60,000 from the bank along Guanco Street in this city, and US$800 from another bank along Iznart Street.

The suspects later brought her to Molo district where she was asked to alight from the van after grabbing her bag containing the money. They immediately sped off the place.

Alcalde however managed to get the vehicle’s plate number, and the police immediately issued a flash alarm resulting in the interception of the van in Dumangas.

As this developed, charges of swindling and robbery are now being readied by the police against the suspects.