Police Files
OLD WOMAN FALLS PREY TO SWINDLERS
AN ELDERLY woman lost P250,000 in cash and jewelry to three con artists in Mandaue City.
Marianita Figuracion, 70, sitio Timpolok, barangay Babag I, Lapu-Lapu City, told police that she seemed hypnotized by the swindlers, who made her believe that they would entrust a huge amount of money to her.
Figuracion told police a woman who claimed to be her former neighbor approached her after she withdrew money from an automated teller machine (ATM) on M.C. Briones Street around 4 p.m. last Friday.
Figuracion was brought to a restaurant on board a car driven by a man.
At the restaurant, a Tagalog-speaking woman approached Figuracion and her companions asking where she could find a hauling firm that could haul her sacks of rice from Dumaguete City.
The driver offered to accompany the Tagalog-speaking lady to someone who has a hauling firm.
The Tagalog-speaking lady said she had to go to Carbon market first to collect P1 million from a certain Mr. Ching.
Moments later, the driver and the woman then returned to the restaurant. The Tagalog speaking-woman said she was just able to collect P700,000 from Mr. Ching.
The woman then asked Figuracion if she was not afraid to bring a huge amount of money.
The swindlers convinced Figuracion to withdraw P50,000 from a bank in Mandaue.
Later, the Tagalog-speaking woman asked the victim if she has jewelry and that she would give her P1,000 for every jewelry.
Figuracion went home to get the jewelry while the thieves waited outside her house.
Inside the car, the victim showed two watches worth P100,000; five cellular phones worth P25,000; four gold necklaces worth P30,000; one bracelet worth P6,000; three pairs of earrings worth P5,000; six rings worth P15,000 and P15,000 cash.
The victim told police that the swindlers placed bundles of money and the jewelry in her bag.
She said the Tagalog-speaking woman kept on talking to her and she didn’t notice that the other thieves took the jewelry and cash from her bag.
The thieves had left when Figuracion discovered that the bag contained papers cut in the size of money./REPORTER JUCELL MARIE P. CUYOS
WOMAN HURT IN RAPE TRY
A CALL center agent was stabbed several times by a man who allegedly tried to rape her inside her rented room in barangay San Nicolas, Cebu City, at dawn yesterday.
The suspect, Zaldy Mark Guanita, 23, was arrested by barangay tanods while he was trying to escape. The man was drunk during the incident, said police.
According to the investigation, the woman was sleeping in her room when she was awakened by a noise outside her room.
The woman stood up to check the noise. When the woman opened the door, a man pushed her against the wall and covered her mouth, said SPO4 Alex Dacua, homicide investigator of the Cebu City Police Office.
The victim tried to break free from the man by biting his hand.
During the scuffle, the suspect covered the woman’s face with a pillow to prevent her from shouting.
When the woman continued to resist, the suspect allegedly punched her in the stomach before repeatedly stabbing her.
A noise inside the victim’s room awoken her aunt who was sleeping in the other room.
The aunt peeped in the window of the victim’s room and saw Guanita holding a bloodied knife, said police.
When the suspect saw the aunt, Guanita fled through the room’s kitchen door.
Tanods cornered the suspect and recovered a seven-inch knife from his possession, said police.
The victim was rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center. The woman was already in stable condition, said police.
Since the man did not succeed in raping the woman, Dacua said frustrated murder will be filed against the suspect, who was detained at the CCPO stockade./CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON
